# A View of Tantallon Castle

[View the canonical artwork record](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/nasmyth-alexander-rd31b994158fc3f/a-view-of-tantallon-castle-r1899b9c7bbcec3>)

## Artwork

- Artist: [NASMYTH, Alexander](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/nasmyth-alexander-rd31b994158fc3f>)
- Date: 1751-1800
- Technique: Oil on canvas, 92 x 122 cm

## Commentary

A View of Tantallon Castle c. 1816 Oil on canvas, 92 x 122 cm National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh Nasmyth developed the landscape style for which he is best known, which invariably involved integrating topographical details of country houses and castles within a picturesque context. He is recorded as having exhibited three paintings of Tantallon, in addition to this especially dramatic, almost operatic, view, which is thought to date from c. 1816, and is one of the finest of his maritime pictures. A related drawing of a shipwreck is in the collection of the National Gallery of Scotland. It is probable that he chose to treat the subject because the fourteenth-century Tantallon Castle, which is located outside North Berwick, was so memorably described in Sir Walter Scott&#39;s epic poem Marmion, along with a &#39;gathering ocean- storm,&#39; \(Nasmyth provided numerous illustrations for collected editions of Scott&#39;s poems\). He also uses it, however, to explore a type of romantic coastal scene most readily associated with the great mid-eighteenth-century French painter, Claude-Joseph Vernet. &lt;P&gt; &lt;TABLE ALIGN=LEFT CELLPADDING=5 BORDER=1 WIDTH=320 BGCOLOR=&#34;\#99CCCC&#34;&gt; &lt;TR VALIGN=MIDDLE&gt;&lt;TD&gt;&lt;IMG SRC=&#34;/support/gif/listen.gif&#34; BORDER=0 VALIGN=MIDDLE&gt; Suggested listening \(streaming mp3, 4 minutes\):&lt;BR&gt;&lt;A HREF=&#34;\#&#34; onClick=&#34;w=window.open \(&#39;/music1/19\_cent/mendelssohn\_hebrides.html&#39;, &#39;newWin&#39;, &#39;scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=350,height=350&#39;\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return true&#34;&gt;&lt;B&gt;Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy: The Hebrides Overture \(&#39;Fingals Cave&#39;\)&lt;/B&gt;&lt;/A&gt; &lt;/TD&gt;&lt;/TR&gt;&lt;/TABLE&gt;

## Related artworks

- [View of a Lochside Castle](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/nasmyth-alexander-rd31b994158fc3f/view-of-a-lochside-castle-r99e0ea7f1eb75f>)
- [View of Crosbie Castle in Ayrshire, with the Isle of Arran Beyond](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/nasmyth-alexander-rd31b994158fc3f/view-of-crosbie-castle-in-ayrshire-with-the-isle-of-arran-beyond-rab2a061adff4cf>)
- [View of Edinburgh from Blackford](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/nasmyth-alexander-rd31b994158fc3f/view-of-edinburgh-from-blackford-r22fff2b0c2544c>)
- [View of Edinburgh from the North West](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/nasmyth-alexander-rd31b994158fc3f/view-of-edinburgh-from-the-north-west-r092076e8c92191>)

## Attribution

[Web Gallery of Art](<https://beta.wga.hu/pages/about>)