''Norham Castle, Sunrise'' is an oil-on-canvas painting by English painter

J. M. W. Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbu ...

, created around 1845. The painting depicts

Norham Castle Norham Castle (sometimes Nornam) is a castle in Norham, Northumberland, England, overlooking the River Tweed, on the border between England and Scotland. It is a Grade I listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The castle saw much actio ...

, overlooking the

River Tweed The River Tweed, or Tweed Water, is a river long that flows east across the Border region in Scotland and northern England. Tweed cloth derives its name from its association with the River Tweed. The Tweed is one of the great salmon rivers ...

, the border between England and Scotland. The painting was bequeathed to the

National Gallery of British Art National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

(now Tate Britain) as part of the Turner Bequest in 1856. It remains in the collection to this day. It was one of the artist's last paintings, and falls within his "Modernist" period. This piece is well known for Turner's attentiveness to dawn light, and the softened silhouette it brings.

Background

Norham Norham ( ) is a village and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south-west of Berwick on the south side of the River Tweed where it is the border with Scotland. History Its ancient name was Ubbanford. Ecgred of Lindisfarne (d.845) replac ...

is a village in

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in the border country between England and Scotland. The

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

was a key stronghold overlooking the

and was frequently attacked by the Scots. Turner visited the castle and the surrounding country in 1797. Following his journey, Turner created the watercolor ''Norham Castle: Sunrise'', which was exhibited at the

Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

in 1798 to critical acclaim. Turner revisted the ruins in 1801. In 1806, Turner began work on his ''

Liber Studiorum ''Liber Studiorum'' () is a collection of prints by J. M. W. Turner. The collected works included seventy-one prints that he worked on and printed from 1807 to 1819. For the production of the prints, Turner created the etchings for the prints, ...

'', a collection of monochrome landscape prints. ''Norham Castle, Sunrise'' was among a series of unfinished colored reworkings of these prints. The source for this painting in particular was the Tate Collection's ''Liber'' catalogue's plate no. 57, ''Norham Castle on the Tweed'', published in 1816. By the end of his career, Turner had created six different versions of this painting and returned to Norham Castle multiple times to reflect on his work and life.Warrell, Ian (2007). J.M.W. Turner. London: Tate Publishing. p. 228.

References

{{J. M. W. Turner Paintings by J. M. W. Turner 1845 paintings Paintings in the Tate galleries Sun in art

Background

See also

References