J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > West Country 1811 > Devonshire Coast, No.1 Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Fishermen's Cottages at Bridport (West Bay) 1811

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Fishermen's Cottages at Bridport (West Bay)’ 1811
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 57 Recto:
Fishermen’s Cottages at Bridport (West Bay) 1811
D08471
Turner Bequest CXXIII 55b
Pencil on white wove writing paper, 75 x 117 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Dr Lloyd Honiton Mr Palmer’ bottom centre
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘55b’ bottom right, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CXXIII – 55b’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
By comparison with the cliff at the centre of the drawing of West Bay on folio 47 verso (D08452), this view appears to be of the same beach. The shapes in the left foreground may be lobster pots; the slightly smudged shape above the word ‘Palmer’ may be a donkey with panniers.
‘Honiton’ is probably a reference to the town of that name, a few miles inland between Lyme Regis and Exeter, although Turner’s coastal itinerary continued via Sidmouth (see folios 206 verso and 208 recto (D08734, D08737; CXXIII 203a, 205)). The names may be those of local contacts.

Matthew Imms
June 2011

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Fishermen’s Cottages at Bridport (West Bay) 1811 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, June 2011, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-fishermens-cottages-at-bridport-west-bay-r1136948, accessed 18 April 2024.