Linlithgow Palace

Linlithgow Palace and St Michael's Kirk stand on a promontory on the south shore of Linlithgow Loch, to the west of Edinburgh. From the late 13th century until 1746 the site was an important military stronghold. In 1440 the palace was rebuilt and from then until 1603, when James VI ascended the throne of England, was extensively used by the Scottish court. Linlithgow was a favourite residence of James V and his daughter Mary Queen of Scots was born there in December 1542. By 1688 it was in a ruinous state, and it was further damaged in 1746 when soldiers of the Duke of Cumberland's army, who were bivouacked in the palace, accidentally burned it down. In 1832 it was taken over by HM Commissioners of Woods and Forests who commenced restoration of the building. Turner extensively sketched Linlithgow on his Scottish tour of 1801. This painting is based upon the sketch now in the Fogg Art Museum (Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA). The picture is dateable to around 1806-7 and was first shown at the one-man exhibition that Turner staged in his own gallery at his home in the summer of 1810. The composition is overtly classical. The foreground trees are balanced on left and right, the palace is centred in the middle distance, and a pale blue haze describes the far distance. A further classical note is struck with the foreground addition of naked bathing women surrounded by a curious collection of artefacts that includes an earthenware jug, a wooden bucket and what appears to be a paddle. These nymphs are a device used to elevate the picture. Topographically, the work is inaccurate - partly because the details of the windows and battlements were only roughly sketched by Turner. Other inaccuracies are more deliberate - particularly the added height of the palace, the tapering of the tower of St Michael's Kirk and the softening into the distance of the prominent tower of the Town House lying just behind St Michael's in the town of Linlithgow.