FAMAG 2006.10.14
Turner, Joseph Mallord William RA (1775-1851): Tintagel Castle, Cornwall, engraver: Cooke, George, publisher: Murray, John, dated 1818, line engraving, R106, Image size: 162 x 241mm, Plate mark size: 228 x 301mm, Sheet size: 308 x 435mm.
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Picturesque Views on the Southern Coast of England
1814-1826
The site of Tintagel's twelfth century castle had been inhabited by monks since 500 AD. Here Turner elevates its clifftop setting for dramatic effect thereby increasing the romance of its connection with Arthurian folklore. This spectacular engraving with its contrasts of scale between foreground and background, focuses on the hazardous form of slate gathering unique to the locale. Here we see its sheets being stacked and carted in preparation for shipment. A pulley controlled by the capstan to its left, is about to lower a boat down the vertical cliff to the foreshore. Many of the Duchy's northern cliff faces were rich in exposed slate which had become a valuable roof tiling commodity. An alternative vernacular method of 'quarrying' could be carried out at low tide by intrepid 'hackers and hewers' hovering against the cliffs on wooden platforms. Depending how high they were working, the rough sheets cut from the surface, would either be raised to the top or suspended to awaiting panniered donkeys driven by women and children along the nearest inland path.
The original for this work is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA.