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 Falmouth Harbour from Penryn 1811

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Falmouth Harbour from Penryn’ 1811
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 111 Verso:
Falmouth Harbour from Penryn 1811
D08574
Turner Bequest CXXIII 108a
Pencil on white wove writing paper, 75 x 117 mm
Inscribed by Turner in ink ‘Falmouth’ bottom left
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The view is to the south-east from the north side of Penryn Harbour. Falmouth is on the right with ships’ masts indicated in the harbour, with Pendennis Castle on the peninsula beyond and the headland on the St Mawes side framing the view out to sea in the distance, which is similar to the composition of the watercolour Falmouth Harbour of about 1812–14 (Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight),1 engraved in 1816 for the Picturesque Views on the Southern Coast of England (see the concordance of the series in the 1811 tour introduction). The study on folio 112 verso (D08576; CXXIII 109a) shows Pendennis and St Mawes in more detail, from Falmouth itself.
The drawing of Penryn on folio 112 recto opposite (D08575; CXXIII 109) was perhaps made from the same spot or nearby. For other views in and around Falmouth see under folio 7 verso (D08375).

Matthew Imms
June 2011

1
Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, pp.351–2 no.455, reproduced.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Falmouth Harbour from Penryn 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-falmouth-harbour-from-penryn-r1137051, accessed 19 April 2024.