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 1811

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Lyme Regis’ 1811
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 39 Recto:
Lyme Regis 1811
D08435
Turner Bequest CXXIII 39
Pencil on white wove writing paper, 75 x 117 mm
Part watermark ‘th | 6’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘[?Dark]’ centre left, and ‘x’ above skyline top centre
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘39’ bottom right, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CXXIII – 39’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Lyme is seen from along what is now Marine Parade, looking east. The sketch is mentioned as having a ‘very slight’ relationship1 to Turner’s watercolour Lyme Regis, Dorset of about 1834, for the Picturesque Views in England and Wales (Cincinnati Art Museum),2 although the view is from the opposite direction (see the concordance of subjects in the introduction to the 1811 West Country tour).
There is a view from nearby on folio 36 recto (D08429), under which other sketches of the town are discussed.
1
Shanes 1979, p.155; see also same author’s J.M.W. Turner: The Foundations of Genius, exhibition catalogue, Taft Museum, Cincinnati 1986, p.60.
2
Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.401 no.866, reproduced.
Technical notes:
At the top right there is ink offsetting from the word ‘along’, the last word of a passage of Turner’s poetry on folio 38 verso opposite (D08434); he presumably closed the book without waiting for the ink to dry. There are a few spots of ink offsetting from earlier words in the last line, and towards the foot there is some less obvious offsetting which appears to have taken place over time.

Matthew Imms
June 2011

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Lyme Regis 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-r1136912, accessed 26 April 2024.