J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Thames, London and South of England 1821 ... > London Bridge and Portsmouth Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Portsmouth: The Square Tower and the Saluting Platform ?1824

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Portsmouth: The Square Tower and the Saluting Platform’ ?1824
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 8 Verso:
Portsmouth: The Square Tower and the Saluting Platform ?1824
D17928
Turner Bequest CCVI 8a
Pencil on white wove paper, 160 x 100 mm
Watermark ‘1821’
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the page turned vertically, Turner has recorded a view of waterfront buildings. The subject is not definite, but appears to be the Square Tower with its semaphore station on the extreme left, looking south-east from the entrance to the harbour with the Saluting Platform and the sea wall defences beyond. Compare the bottom sketch on folio 9 recto opposite (D17929).

This is one of a continuous series of views around Portsmouth between folios 1 recto and 20 recto (D17913–D17951); many appear to have been made from a boat; for the overall sequence and details of the most prominent buildings and defences, see the Introduction.

Matthew Imms
December 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Portsmouth: The Square Tower and the Saluting Platform ?1824 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, December 2014, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, April 2015, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-portsmouth-the-square-tower-and-the-saluting-platform-r1172645, accessed 24 April 2024.