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

Turner worked gouache and watercolour painted onto ink drawing to depict the Cap de la Hève in Normandy as seen from the English Channel. The two lighthouses at the top of the high cliffs are clearly picked out in white paint while a boat in full sail makes its way through choppy waters. Sketches of this coastal landmark recur frequently in the Seine and Paris sketchbooks and presumably contributed to the conception of this and four further studies on blue paper: Tate D24566 (Turner Bequest CCLIX 1), D24567 (Turner Bequest CCLIX 2), D24594 (Turner Bequest CCLIX 29), and D24820 (Turner Bequest CCLIX 255). For a list of the sketchbook drawings, see the entry for D23975 (Turner Bequest CCLIV 48). For the finished watercolour of the Cap which Turner worked up with a view to engraved reproduction around this time, see Tate D24701 (Turner Bequest CCLIX 136). All this activity culminated in the engraved vignette in the 1834 volume of Turner’s Annual Tour: Wanderings by the Loire and Seine (1833–5; later reissued as Rivers of France); see Tate impression T05593.

Technical notes:

The verso of this sheet is attached to the mount.