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 Lyme Regis: The Cobb 1811

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Lyme Regis: The Cobb’ 1811
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 36 Verso:
Lyme Regis: The Cobb 1811
D08430
Turner Bequest CXXIII 36a
Pencil on white wove writing paper, 75 x 117 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This slight drawing appears to be of the Cobb, Lyme Regis’s harbour, with the hills east of the town in the distance as seen in the clearer sketch on the recto (D08429). The boats may also be the same, although the view appears to extend to the south. There are low buildings on the south-eastern arm of the Cobb today, though whether they relate to those shown here is uncertain, as the harbour breakwaters were extensively rebuilt in the 1820s.1 This followed major breaches a few years after Turner’s visit, in 1817 and 1824, although earlier plans show the position of the main, encircling arm of the harbour much as it is today, with buildings towards its end.2
For other views of the town, see under D08429.

Matthew Imms
June 2011

1
See ‘The Cobb’, Lyme Regis: The Pearl of Dorset, accessed 14 March 2011, http://www.lymeregis.org/explore/cobb.
2
George Roberts, The History and Antiquities of the Borough of Lyme Regis and Charmouth, London and Lyme Regis 1834, pp.227–8.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Lyme Regis: The Cobb 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-lyme-regis-the-cobb-r1136907, accessed 26 April 2024.