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 Fortifications at Berry Head, near Brixham 1811

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Fortifications at Berry Head, near Brixham’ 1811
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 102 Verso:
Fortifications at Berry Head, near Brixham 1811
D08557
Turner Bequest CXXIII 99a
Pencil on white wove writing paper, 75 x 117 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘[?Ferny]’ centre left
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Berry Head marks the south-eastern limit of Torbay, on the eastern outskirts of Brixham. Batteries had existed there in 1783, but the defences were augmented between 1794 and 1804 during the Napoleonic Wars, including the castellated revetments1 shown at the top left of the main drawing and again as a detail at the top right. The main fort extended eastwards along the crest of the rocky headland beyond this wall, which survives; the site is now a country park. Turner’s inscription may indicate the flora near his viewpoint as distinct from his customary notes ‘corn’ or ‘grass’.
There are views of Brixham and Torbay on folios 54 verso and 56 verso (D08366, D08470; CXXIII 53a, 55a).

Matthew Imms
June 2011

1
See Andrew Saunders, Devon and Cornwall, Exploring England’s Heritage, London 1991, p.71.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Fortifications at Berry Head, near Brixham 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-fortifications-at-berry-head-near-brixham-r1137034, accessed 20 April 2024.