Gibside, County Durham, the Seat of the Earl of Strathmore from South
Joseph Mallord William Turner R.A. (1775-1851)
Date: circa 1817-1818
Place Made: England
Materials & Techniques: Watercolour on paper
Dimensions: 26.2 cm x 43.1 cm
Accession Number: The Bowes Museum, 1983.35/B.M
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This object is a watercolour depicting a landscape. It shows a girl carrying a pitcher on her head and, in the distance, a chapel, a banqueting house and the column of liberty. Beyond these objects is hilly ground with fields and woods. This watercolour was commissioned so that a print of it could be produced for Robert Surtees’s book The History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham. Watercolour paintings are very sensitive to light which makes them lose their colours. It is therefore kept in an area where there is little light.
The picture was painted by the famous artist JMW Turner who lived in the early 19th century. Turner was famous for making tours of Britain and sketching the landscape as he travelled. This picture is of Gibside, the country estate of the Earl of Strathmore, which is near Gateshead, North East England.
Teachers' Information
Following excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum in the mid-18th century and the publication of a number of finely illustrated volumes, society developed a taste for classically inspired architecture. Turner’s inclusion of a woman in classical robes carrying a Grecian vase in the foreground and the neo-classically designed Gibside Chapel above, mirror the elegance of the landscape and echo a contemporary interest in Antiquity.
The full title for this watercolour is Gibside, County Durham, the Seat of the Earl of Strathmore from South. This watercolour, along with a view from the North was commissioned by the 10th Earl of Strathmore to illustrate his country estate, Gibside in Robert Surtees’s book on Durham. John Bowes, co-founder of The Bowes Museum, was the illegitimate son of the 10th Earl of Strathmore and would have been a young boy of 6 or 7 when Turner painted this picture around 1817. At this age John Bowes would probably have spent time exploring Gibside, his father’s estate. The Museum purchased this work from Sotheby’s in 1983 due to its historical connection with the Bowes family.
Activities
1. Ask your pupils to have a go at painting with watercolour on paper. Make two copies and keep one on a windowsill and one in the dark. Watch what happens over time and then repeat the exercise with artworks of different media that the pupils create. This will give the pupils an idea of objects that are sensitive to light.
2. This landscape combines a view of the land with aspects that were fashionable when it was painted, such as the neo-classical woman with vase. Your pupils could create a landscape that contains elements that reflect today’s fashions and tastes.