Oil paint on pine
Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire
Tate Collection
Works with images
Works on loan
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>
Caernarvon Castle
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
architecture
boat, sailing
Caernarfon, Caernarfon Castle
Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire
castle
estuary
medieval
military
periods and styles
places
River Seiont
society
sunset
times of the day
transport: water
UK cities, towns and villages
UK counties
UK countries and regions
UK natural features
Wales
water: inland
<p>Turner visited thirteenth-century Caernarvon in North Wales in 1798, and made lively colour studies in his <i>Academical</i> sketchbook (Tate). This oil sketch was an intermediate step towards a large watercolour version which he exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1799. As a young man Turner is said to have wept when he saw a seaport painted by Claude Lorrain ‘because I shall never be able to paint anything like that picture’. However, the Claudean model of a central sun over water flanked by buildings and shipping served him well in numerous paintings of classical history and myth.</p><p><em>Gallery label, February 2010</em></p>
painting oil paint pine
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
28 April 2012 – 10 July 2016
2016-07-10
28 April 2012
2012-04-28
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2012-04-28
In The Studio
Collection based display
28 October 2023 – 10 March 2024
2024-03-10
28 October 2023 – 10 March 2024
2024-03-10
2023-10-28
Stadtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus (Munich, Germany)
2023-10-28
Turner at Lenbachhaus Munich
Loan-out
6 July 2024 – 15 January 2028
2028-01-15
6 July 2024 – 1 September 2024
2024-09-01
2024-07-06
Grimaldi Forum (Monaco, Monaco)
30 September 2024 – 7 May 2025
2025-05-07
2024-09-30
Museum of Art Pudong (Shanghai, China)
21 June 2025 – 5 October 2025
2025-10-05
2025-06-21
Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art (Brisbane, Australia)
1 June 2026 – 1 October 2026
2026-10-01
2026-06-01
External
15 November 2026 – 15 March 2027
2027-03-15
2026-11-15
External
1 May 2027 – 1 September 2027
2027-09-01
2027-05-01
External
15 October 2027 – 15 January 2028
2028-01-15
2027-10-15
External
2024-07-06
Turner's Sublime Legacy
Tate partnerships & programmes
Caernarvon Castle
support: 152 × 232 mm
frame: 208 × 287 × 40 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>Turner visited thirteenth-century Caernarvon in North Wales in 1798, and made lively colour studies in his <i>Academical</i> sketchbook (Tate). This oil sketch was an intermediate step towards a large watercolour version which he exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1799. As a young man Turner is said to have wept when he saw a seaport painted by Claude Lorrain ‘because I shall never be able to paint anything like that picture’. However, the Claudean model of a central sun over water flanked by buildings and shipping served him well in numerous paintings of classical history and myth.
<br/></p>

Display caption
2010-02-18T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>28.</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-caernarvon-castle-n01867" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N01867</span></a>]<b> Caernarvon Castle</b> <i>c.</i> 1798
<br/>
<br/>THE TATE GALLERY, LONDON (1867)
<br/>Pine, 5 15/16 × 9 1/16 (15·1 × 23); a bevelled edge along the bottom leaves a painted surface of 5 13/16 ×9 1/16 (14·8 × 23)</p>
<p><b>Coll.</b> Turner Bequest 1856; transferred to the Tate Gallery 1905.</p>
<p><b>Exh.</b> <i>Welsh Landscape in British Art</i> Arts Council Welsh tour, August 1947–February 1948 (40); Cardiff 1951; Brighton 1957 (33); Swansea 1964 (154); R.A. 1974–5 (45); Llandudno and Swansea 1984 (63, repr.).</p>
<p><b>Lit.</b> Gage 1969, pp. 29–30, colour pl. 6; Wilton 1979, p. 57; Kitson 1983, pp. 5, 15 n.24; Andrew Wilton, ‘La technique de l'aquarelle chez Turner’, exh. cat. Paris 1983–4, pp. 156–8, fig. 19.</p>
<p></p>
<p>A <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/w/watercolour" title="Glossary definition for 'Watercolour'"><span>watercolour</span></a> of the same view is in the ‘Academical’ sketchbook (Turner Bequest XLIII-39 <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>, repr. in colour Gage, <i>op.cit.</i>, pl. 5; for rather more accurate colour reproductions of three of the other related sketches of Caernarvon Castle in the same sketchbook, XLIII-42 verso, 43 verso and 44 verso, see Wilkinson 1972, pp. 82–3). This was used for the large finished watercolour <i>Caernarvon Castle</i> exhibited at the R.A. in 1799 (340). There are similar views of Caernarvon Castle in <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/g/graphite" title="Glossary definition for 'Graphite'"><span>pencil</span></a> in the ‘Lancashire and North Wales’ sketchbook (XLV-24 verso, 25 verso and 26 verso; 24 verso and 26 verso are repr. Wilkinson, <i>op. cit.</i>, p. 86); these were dated <i>c.</i> 1799 by Finberg but should probably be dated, like the watercolour sketches and this oil <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>painting</span></a>, to 1798, the year before the finished watercolour was exhibited (see Wilton 1979, pp. 56–7, the exhibited watercolour colour pl. 47).</p>
<p>
<br/><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
architecture boat, sailing Caernarfon, Caernarfon Castle Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire castle estuary medieval military periods and styles places River Seiont society sunset times of the day transport: water UK cities, towns and villages UK counties UK countries and regions UK natural features Wales water: inland