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 1813 > Plymouth, Hamoaze Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Plymouth with Mount Batten and the Citadel from the East 1813

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Plymouth with Mount Batten and the Citadel from the East’ 1813
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 74 Recto:
Plymouth with Mount Batten and the Citadel from the East 1813
D09298
Turner Bequest CXXXI 74
Pencil on white wove paper, 95 x 157 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in blue ink ‘74’ bottom right, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CXXXI – 74’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the page turned horizontally, the viewpoint is above the Cattewater east of Plymouth, looking west to the tower of Mount Batten and the Citadel to the left and right of the centre respectively, with Mount Edgcumbe across Plymouth Sound in the distance. There is a similar, less finished sketch on folio 73 recto (D09297) and a view from further off on folio 76 recto (D09300). The subjects as far as folio 127 recto (D09358) are all identified or presumed sites within a few miles in and around Plymouth, suggesting a series of fairly short excursions.
Technical notes:
The page has darkened considerably through prolonged display;1 the edges once protected by its mount are unaffected. Glue stains are evident at the corners, showing through from the verso.
1
See Warrell 1991, pp.39 (venues), 42 (the present work).
Verso:
Blank, save for inscription in pencil ‘CXXXI – 74’ bottom centre.

Matthew Imms
April 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Plymouth with Mount Batten and the Citadel from the East 1813 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 2014, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, September 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-plymouth-with-mount-batten-and-the-citadel-from-the-east-r1148026, accessed 26 April 2024.