Museum acquires Turner painting

The museum paid more than £30,000 for the watercolour

A Turner watercolour has been acquired by a County Durham museum.

Bowes Tower was purchased at auction for £30,500 by the Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle.

The watercolour was commissioned by Sir Walter Scott's publisher to be the cover of a selection of the writer's poems in the early 19th Century.

The stilted arch, which is clearly identifiable in the watercolour, can still be seen when visiting Bowes Castle - three miles from the museum.

Summer sketching tours were part of Turner's annual routine and he first toured the north of England in 1797, making sketches in County Durham, Yorkshire and Northumberland.

During the 1830s he produced designs to illustrate volumes of poetry by some of his most celebrated contemporaries including Lord Byron and Sir Walter Scott.

Sir Walter was author of the epic poem Rokeby, which was set in the landscape between Rokeby Park and Barnard Castle.

Bowes Tower acted as the frontispiece to Volume Nine of Scott's poetry, which contains Rokeby.

Emma House, the museum's assistant keeper of fine art, said: "Bowes Tower is an important example of the work Turner produced for such publications.

"In this watercolour he captures the stunning landscape that so enchanted Walter Scott."

The Bowes Museum already owns two watercolours by Turner.