A5 (14.8 x 21 cm) single postcard featuring Durham by Joseph Mallord William Turner, part of the National Galleries of Scotland Collection.

In this view of Durham, seen from the Prebends’ bridge, Turner has drawn inspiration from the work of the great landscape painter Claude Lorrain (About 1604-1682). The golden light and setting sun, as well as the composition, in which the city is carefully ‘framed’ by trees and a parapet.

Turner has turned the Cathedral forty-five degrees from its true position so that it faces the viewer more emphatically. Durham was engraved in 1836 and published in the Picturesque Views in England and Wales print series.

Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 1775 – 19 December 1851), known as J. M. W. Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker, and watercolourist, known for his brilliant, expressive colourisation, imaginative landscapes and turbulent, often violent marine paintings.