Harlech Castle, from Tygwyn Ferry, Summer's Evening Twilight
Date:
1799
Materials & Techniques:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
34 1/4 x 47 inches (87 x 119.4 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1977.14.76
Classification:
Paintings
Collection:
Paintings and Sculpture
Subject Terms:
women | children | landscape | evening | rocks (landforms) | mountains | costume | ships | castle | sea | summer | men
Associated Places:
United Kingdom | Harlech | Wales | Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire | Cymru | Harlech Castle
Currently On View:
On view
Exhibition History:
J.M.W. Turner: Romance & Reality (Yale Center for British Art, 2025-03-29 - 2025-07-27)In a New Light: Paintings from the Yale Center for British Art (Yale University Art Gallery, 2023-03-24 - 2023-12-03)Art in Focus : Wales (Yale Center for British Art, 2014-04-04 - 2014-08-10)Turner and the Masters (Tate Britain, 2009-09-21 - 2010-01-24)Turner and the Masters (Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 2010-02-22 - 2010-05-23)J.M.W. Turner (Museum Folkwang, 2001-09-14 - 2002-01-06)J.M.W. Turner (Kunsthaus Zurich, 2002-02-26 - 2002-05-26)This Other Eden : British Paintings from the Paul Mellon Collection at Yale (Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1998-05-01 - 1998-07-05)This Other Eden : British Paintings from the Paul Mellon Collection at Yale (Queensland Art Gallery, 1998-07-15 - 1998-09-06)This Other Eden : British Paintings from the Paul Mellon Collection at Yale (Art Gallery of South Australia, 1998-09-16 - 1998-11-15)Gentle, Rural and Sublime - English Landscape Paintings and Watercolors, 1750-1850 (Denver Art Museum, 1993-12-11 - 1994-02-06)Fairest Isle - The Appreciation of British Scenery 1750-1850 (Yale Center for British Art, 1989-04-12 - 1989-06-25)Turner in Wales (Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, 1984-09-22 - 1984-11-17)Turner in Wales (The Mostyn Art Gallery, 1984-07-14 - 1984-09-08)Presences of Nature - British Landscape 1780-1830 (Yale Center for British Art, 1982-10-20 - 1983-02-27)J. M. W. Turner - A Selection of Paintings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon (National Gallery of Art, 1968-10-31 - 1969-04-21)Painting in England 1700-1850 - From The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon (Yale University Art Gallery, 1965-04-15 - 1965-06-20)
Publications:
A Great Collection of British Pictures in Virginia, The Times (London), , May 1, 1963, p. 5, Times Digital ArchiveKatharine Baetjer, Glorious nature : British landscape painting, 1750-1850, , Zwemmer publisher, London, 1993, pp. 38-40,180-181, no. 50, ND1354.4 B34 1993 (YCBA)John Baskett, Painting in England: 1700-1850: the collection of English paintings formed by Mr and Mrs Paul Mellon : on exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, until August 18th, , Connoisseur, Vol. 153, London, June 1963, p. 101, N1 C75 + (YCBA)Mila Boutan, Turner et Moi, RMN Jeunesse, Paris, 2010, p. 22, No copy available at Yale Only locations given in WorldCat (4/21/12) are in France. N.B. This is a book written for a "Juvenile" audienceMartin Butlin, The paintings of J.M.W. Turner, The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, New Haven, 1984, pp. 6-7, no. 9, pl. 8, NJ18 T85 B885 1984 OVERSIZE (YCBA)Malcolm Cormack, Concise Catalogue of Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1985, pp. 224-225, N590.2 .A83 (YCBA)Megan Cullen, Fairest isle : the appreciation of British scenery, 1750-1850 : [exhibition] label copy. Yale Center for British Art, April 12-June 25, 1989., , Yale Center for British Art, [New Haven, 1989, p. 39, no. 85, ND1354.4 F351 1989 (YCBA)Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts. 1799. 31st, Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, , Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1799, p. 9, no. 192, N5054 A53 v. 2 (YCBA)Exhibition of Works by the Old Masters and deceased masters of the British School. . . Winter Exhibition, thirty-fourth year, Royal Academy of Arts, 1903, p. 11, no. 29, Fiche B138 (YCBA)Guillaume Faroult, Turner et ses peintres : album de l'exposition, , Editions Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Paris, 2010, p. 8, fig. 5, NJ18 T85 F37 2010 (YCBA)A. J. Finberg, The life of J. M. W. Turner, R.A., , Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1961, pp. 56, 461, no. 50, NJ18 T85 F55 1961 (YCBA)Catherine M. Gordon, British paintings Hogarth to Turner, Frederick Warne, London, 1981, p. 67, ND466 .G67 (YCBA)Harlech (Now First Produced) by J.M.W. Turner, R.A., Magazine of Art, vol. 2, January 1904, p. 238, N1 M34 + (YCBA)Harlech Castle, North Wales, Art in America, vol. 69, November 1981, p. 152, N1 A43 OVERSIZE (HAAS)Louis Hawes, Presences of Nature : British Landscape, 1780-1830, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1982, pp. 28, 130-131, no. II.9, pl. 21, ND1354.4 H38 (YCBA)Luke Herrmann, The Paul Mellon Collection at Burlington House, Connoisseur, vol. 157, December 1964, p. 218, N1 C75 + OVERSIZE (YCBA)J.M.W. Turner : a selection of paintings from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, , National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1968, pp. 12, 18, no. 3, fig. 3, NJ18 T85 U5 (YCBA)Kay Dian Kriz, The idea of the English landscape painter : genius as alibi in the early nineteenth-century, , The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, New Haven, Conn., 1997, p. 26, fig. 13, ND1354.5 K75 1997 (YCBA)Lucinda Lax, J. M. W. Turner : romance & reality, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 2025, p. 3, V 2981 (YCBA)Peter Lord, The tradition : a new history of Welsh art, 1400-1990, Parthian, Cardigan, 2016, pp. 128, 129, fig. 136, N6792 .L678 2016 OVERSIZE (YCBA)Peter Lord, Visual Culture of Wales : Imaging the Nation, University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 2000, pp. 157-158, N6792 L675 2000 (YCBA)Julia Marciari-Alexander, This other Eden : Paintings from the Yale Center for British Art, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1998, p. 86, no. 30, ND1314.3 Y36 1998 (YCBA)Kathleen Nicholson, Turner, Poetry, and the Transformation of History Painting, Arts Magazine, vol. 56, April 1982, p. 92, N1 A415 OVERSIZE (HAAS)Frederic Ogee, Turner : les paysages absolus, , Hazan, Paris, 2010, pp. 78, 132-133, NJ18 T85 O34 2010 (YCBA)On the trail of Turner in North and South Wales, Cadw, Cardiff [Wales], 1995, p. 32, NJ18 T85 O56 1995 (YCBA)Painting in England 1700-1850 : collection of Mr. & Mrs. Paul Mellon : Exhibition at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, , , Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA, 1963, pp. 88 (v.1), no. 130, pl. 188, ND466 V57 v.1-2 (YCBA)Painting in England 1700-1850 from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, The Royal Academy of Arts Winter Exhibition 1964-65., , Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK, 1964, pp. 50-51 (v.1), no. 183, pl. 60, N5220.M45 R69 1964 (YCBA)Duncan Robinson, Fairest isle : the appreciation of British scenery, 1750-1850, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1989, p. 11, no. 85, ND1354.4 F35 (YCBA)David H. Solkin, Turner and the masters, Tate Publishing, London, 2009, pp. 21; 42; 98-99, 101, 114-115, pl. 15, NJ18 T85 T8352 2009+ (YCBA)Ian Warrell, Turner Inspired : In the Light of Claude, The National Gallery, London, London, 2012, p. 69, NJ18 T85 +W365 2012 Oversize (YCBA)Ian Warrell, Turner, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 2025, pp. 11, 14-15, 31, 33, 42-43, pl. 11, NJ18 .T85 W37 2025 (YCBA)Andrew Wilton, The life and work of J.M.W. Turner, Academy Editions, London, 1979, p. 254, no. P9, NJ18 T85 +W577 OVERSIZE (YCBA)Andrew Wilton, Turner in Wales, The Mostyn Art Gallery, Llandudno (Gwynedd), 1984, p. 60, no. 71, NJ18 T85 W592 (YCBA)Yale Center for British Art, Selected paintings, drawings & books, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 1977, p. 36, N590.2 A82 (YCBA)Yale Center for British Art, Wales, New Haven, 2014, pp. 12-13, 21, V2519 (YCBA)Yale University Art Gallery, Painting in England, 1700-1850, from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon : [exhibition at] Yale University Art Gallery, April 15-June 20, 1965, , vol. 1, W. Clowes and sons, New Haven, 1965, p. 54 (v.1), no. 200, pl. 60, ND466 Y35 (YCBA)
Gallery Label:
Harlech Castle was constructed by the English king Edward I as part of his conquest of Wales in the thirteenth century. Here it is depicted by J. M. W. Turner, the landscape and history painter, who made five journeys to Wales in the 1790s. Although best known for landscapes incorporating grand mountains and rough oceans, Turner here focuses on the expanse of light and space in the coastal setting of Harlech, capturing a melancholy mood. This particular landscape displays people, albeit in a small scale, which is fitting of the Romantic, grand nature of ruins. A modern shipyard takes center stage, while the castle is seen far in the background. Gallery label for Art in Focus: Wales (Yale Center for British Art, 2014-04-04 - 2014-08-10)
Provenance:
Possibly commissioned by Peter Leopold Louis Francis Nassau Clavering-Cowper, fifth Earl Cowper (1778–1837), from Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851), the artist [1][a][b]; possibly by inheritance to his son, George Augustus Frederick Cowper, sixth Earl Cowper (1806–1856); possibly by inheritance to his son, Francis Thomas de Grey Cowper, seventh Earl Cowper (1834–1905); …; purchased by James Orrock (1829–1913) [2][c]; privately purchased by Harold Heneage Finch-Hatton (1856–1904), London, by 1903 [3][d]; …; acquired by Sir Donald Currie (1825–1909) [4][e]; by descent to his daughter, Maria Wisely (née Currie) (1859–1924); by descent to her daughter, Marjorie Dorothea Fergusson (née Wisely) (1889–1986) [5]; privately purchased by Sir Geoffrey William Gerald Agnew (1908–1986), Thomas Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London, 1961 [f]; privately purchased by Paul Mellon (1907–1999), 1961 [g]; by whom given to the Yale Center for British Art, 1977. Notes: --- [1] A drawing titled "Figures by the Water, with Ships and Buildings at Tygwyn Ferry, and Harlech Castle in the Distance" from 1789 depicts an early iteration of this picture’s composition with an inscription by Turner as ‘117 Harlech | Study for Ld Cooper’s Picture’. It may be assumed that an Earl Cowper commissioned or acquired the finished picture from the artist, based on this inscription of the drawing study, though it is not certain which Earl Cowper. Some scholars suggest it was Peter Leopold Louis Francis Nassau Clavering-Cowper (1778–1837), fifth Earl Cowper, given the date of the finished picture and its exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, in 1799, while others suggest it was the Hon. Edward Spencer Cowper (1779–1823), the youngest brother of the fifth Earl Cowper, who outlived him. Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll state the work passed by inheritance through the family, but it is not known how the painting passed out of the Earl Cowpers’ possession. [2] James Orrock (1829–1913) was a Scottish collector and artist. A 1904 article from The Magazine of Art states that Orrock purchased the painting from a London dealer’s gallery, where it was misattributed to the landscape painter Peter de Wint (1784–1849). Orrock was able to correctly identify the painting as a work of Turner due to the presence of sand on the canvas’s surface, an idiosyncratic technique that Turner used to hasten paint drying. The gallery and date when Orrock made this discovery is not provided, however, it is confirmed that he sold the painting to Hon. Harold Finch-Hatton. [3] The painting was included in "Exhibition of Works by the Old Masters and Deceased Masters of the British School" at the Royal Academy, London, in 1903, where it was listed as a loan from the Hon. Harold Heneage Finch-Hatton (1856–1904) as "No. 29. Harlech." Finch-Hatton was the youngest son of George Finch-Hatton, tenth Earl of Winchilsea (1791–1858) and lived at Harlech Castle when he was not in London. Upon Finch-Hatton’s sudden death, his estate and property passed to his brother Henry Stormont Finch-Hatton, thirteenth Earl of Winchilsea (1852–1927). It is not known how the work passed out of the Finch-Hattons’ possession during this period. [4] Sir Donald Currie (1825–1909) was a Scottish politician and shipping magnate who founded the Castle Line, dominating sea routes between Great Britain and South Africa through the second half of the nineteenth century. As a philanthropist, he was well known as a collector of Turner since at least the 1860s, often acquiring from dealers or at auction sales. Between 1894 and 1904, S.S. Harlech Castle sailed under the Castle Line fleet of his shipping company Union-Castle Mail Steamship Company, Ltd., providing a reason for his interest in acquiring this painting. [5] Marjorie Dorothea Fergusson (née Wisely) (1889–1986) was the only daughter of Captain George Alexander Keith Wisely (1856–1946) and Maria Wisely (née Currie) (1859–1924), the youngest daughter of Sir Donald Currie (1825–1909) and Margaret Currie (née Miller) (ca. 1830–1920). From 1915 until his death, she was married to Edmund [NB: sometimes spelled Edmond] James Fergusson (1891–1949), the son of James Grant Fergusson and Mary Fergusson (née Davidson), Baledmund. She often gifted or lent artwork to museums and exhibitions, and sold work through Thos. Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London, from at least 1971. Citations: --- [a] Andrew Wilton, ‘Figures by the Water, with Ships and Buildings at Tygwyn Ferry, and Harlech Castle in the Distance 1798 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, April 2015, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-figures-by-the-water-with-ships-and-buildings-at-tygwyn-r1173690. [b] Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1984): 6–7, no. 9, pl. 8. [c] "Harlech (Now First Reproduced)," The Magazine of Art 2 (1904): 238. [d] Royal Academy of Arts, Exhibition of Works by [the] Old Masters and by deceased masters of the British School including a collection of paintings by Albert Cuyp and of works by some English Landscape painters also... (London: William Clowes and Sons, Ltd., 1903), 11. https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/exhibition-catalogue/1903-old-masters-deceased-masters-of-the-british-school-albert-cuyp-and?all_fields=&commit=Search&date=1903&form=exhibition_catalogues&index=3&title=&total_entries=3&utf8=%E2%9C%93. [e] Butlin and Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, 6, no. 9, pl. 8 [f] Ibid. [g] Ibid.