Oil paint on mahogany
Edinburgh
Tate Collection
Works with images
Joseph Mallord William Turner
Turner Bequest
Oil paintings
Collection
Turner owned by Tate
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/joseph-mallord-william-turner-558" aria-label="More by Joseph Mallord William Turner" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Joseph Mallord William Turner</a>
George IV at St Giless Edinburgh
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
adults
arch
architecture
balcony
boy
cathedral
children
clergyman
congregation
dress: nations/regions
Edinburgh
Edinburgh, High Street, St Giles’s Cathedral
features
furnishings
George IV, King / Prince Regent
girl
Gothic
groups
history
interiors
king
man
medieval
named individuals
objects
people
periods and styles
pew
places
politics and society
pulpit
religious
religious
religious and ceremonial
royalty and social rank
royalty: George IV, visit to Edinburgh, Aug 1822
Scotland
Scotland
society
UK cities, towns and villages
UK counties
UK countries and regions
woman
work and occupations
<p>In 1822 George IV made the first state visit to Scotland since the Act of Union of 1707. The cathedral service shown here took place on Sunday 25 August, with the king under the canopy in the distance. The visit was choreographed with much tartan by the famous novelist Sir Walter Scott to promote both Scotland and British unity, and was witnessed by various artists. Turner was there, in the fruitless hope of securing the king’s patronage for a series of nineteen commemorative paintings, of which only two interiors and two sketchy seascapes survive.</p><p><em>Gallery label, February 2010</em></p>
painting oil paint mahogany
26 July 2004 – 27 June 2005
2005-06-27
26 July 2004 – 27 June 2005
2005-06-27
2004-07-26
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2004-07-26
Art and National Identity
Collection based display
19 August 2009 – 27 July 2010
2010-07-27
19 August 2009 – 27 July 2010
2010-07-27
2009-08-19
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2009-08-19
Landscape and Nation: Turner's Britain
Collection based display
14 April 2012 – 8 March 2020
2020-03-08
14 April 2012 – 8 March 2020
2020-03-08
2012-04-14
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2012-04-14
Turner as a British Artist
Collection based display
George IV at St Giles’s, Edinburgh
support: 746 × 918 mm
Accepted by the nation as part of the <a href="/search?gid=999999781" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Turner Bequest</a> 1856
<p>In 1822 George IV made the first state visit to Scotland since the Act of Union of 1707. The cathedral service shown here took place on Sunday 25 August, with the king under the canopy in the distance. The visit was choreographed with much tartan by the famous novelist Sir Walter Scott to promote both Scotland and British unity, and was witnessed by various artists. Turner was there, in the fruitless hope of securing the king’s patronage for a series of nineteen commemorative paintings, of which only two interiors and two sketchy seascapes survive.
<br/></p>

Display caption
2010-02-18T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p>[from]<b> Nos. 247–8b : George IV's Visit to Edinburgh, 1822 </b>[<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-george-iv-at-st-giless-edinburgh-n02857" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N02857</span></a>-<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-george-iv-at-the-provosts-banquet-in-the-parliament-house-edinburgh-n02858" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N02858</span></a>; <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-shipping-n02879" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N02879</span></a>-<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-george-ivs-departure-from-the-royal-george-1822-n02880" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N02880</span></a>]</p>
<p>IN August 1822, the year after his coronation, George IV paid a two-week state visit to Edinburgh, the first by a British monarch since the Act of Union of 1707. The Royal Squadron arrived at Leith on 14 August and George IV landed the following day, staying at the Palace of Holyrood until 29 August. The visit was staged by Sir Walter Scott. A number of artists attended the occasion, including Turner, who seems to have been in Edinburgh as early as 7 August (he was definitely there by 14 August) and was presumably there until the end of the royal visit.</p>
<p>Gerald Finley has suggested that Turner planned a series of <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>paintings</span></a> covering this visit, to be <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/e/engraving" title="Glossary definition for 'Engraving'"><span>engraved</span></a> and probably in the hope of royal patronage.</p>
<p>Turner used two sketchbooks in Edinburgh, the ‘King's Visit to Scotland’ sketchbook (CC) and the ‘King at Edinburgh’ sketchbook (CCI), the latter containing a double-spread of nineteen rough <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a> sketches (p. 44 <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/r/recto-verso" title="Glossary definition for 'Recto / Verso'"><span>verso</span></a> and inside back cover; both sketchbooks are repr. in full in Finley 1981); four of these can be linked with paintings in the Turner Bequest, two long identified with this visit (Nos. 247 [<span>N02857</span>] and 248 [<span>N02858</span>]), the other two only recently identified by Finley, a discovery reflected in the exhibition and accompanying book of <i>Turner and George the Fourth in Edinburgh, 1822</i>, 1981–2.</p>
<p>All four paintings are on <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/panel" title="Glossary definition for 'Panel'"><span>panel</span></a>, relatively unusual for Turner, two being approximately 2 1/2 inches higher than the others. It is uncertain how many pictures Turner would have completed had the scheme been fulfilled. It is also uncertain why the scheme was abandoned but the reason is hinted at in a letter of 3 December 1823 to J.C. Schetky. From this it appears that Schetky had offered Turner the use of one of his <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawings</span></a> of the Royal Barge, only roughly sketched by Turner during his visit, but, so Turner writes, ‘there is an end to that commission owing to the difficulty attending engraving the subjects’ (Gage <i>loc. cit.</i>). Turner had presumably abandoned work on the paintings by this time.</p>
<p><b>Lit.</b> Finley 1975, pp. 27–35; Gage 1980, p. 90; Finley 1981.</p>
<p><b>247. </b>[<span>N02857</span>] <b>George IV at St Giles's, Edinburgh</b> <i>c.</i>
1822</p>
<p>THE TATE GALLERY, LONDON (2857)</p>
<p>Mahogany, 29 11/16 × 36 1/8 (76 × 91·5)</p>
<p><b>Coll.</b> Turner Bequest 1856 (? 149, one of ‘3 each (panel)’ 3'0" × 2'6"); transferred to the Tate Gallery 1929.</p>
<p><b>Exh.</b> <i>George IV in Edinburgh 1822</i> Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, July–September 1961 (49), and on loan there until 1981; Tate Gallery and Edinburgh 1981–2.</p>
<p><b>Lit.</b> Falk 1938, pp. 129–30; Rothenstein and Butlin 1964, p. 30; Finley 1975, p. 35, repr. p. 30 fig. 19; Finley 1981, pp. 35, 43, 49, 57, pl. 17.</p>
<p>George IV visited St Giles on 25 August. Of the nineteen composition sketches devoted to the royal visit that numbered ‘15’ seems to be for this subject, but this is a very rough sketch and the connection is not certain.</p>
<p>There are more closely related sketches of the interior of St Giles in the ‘King's Visit to Scotland’ sketchbook (CC-32 verso, 33, 33 verso (repr. Finley 1975 p. 31 fig. 24) and 34).</p>
<p>Finley (1975) describes Nos. 247 [<span>N02857</span>] and 248 [<span>N02858</span>] as ‘<i>modelli</i>’ but this example in particular is carried fairly far towards completion.</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, <i>The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner</i>, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-23T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
adults arch architecture balcony boy cathedral children clergyman congregation dress: nations/regions Edinburgh Edinburgh, High Street, St Giles’s Cathedral features furnishings George IV, King / Prince Regent girl Gothic groups history interiors king man medieval named individuals objects people periods and styles pew places politics and society pulpit religious religious religious and ceremonial royalty and social rank royalty: George IV, visit to Edinburgh, Aug 1822 Scotland Scotland society UK cities, towns and villages UK counties UK countries and regions woman work and occupations