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

Inverted in relation to the sketchbook as foliated, the drawings on this page depict distant coastal land-masses and descriptions of harbour infrastructure. The dense cluster of sketchy marks in the bottom left-hand quadrant depicts sail-boats and smaller vessels closely packed into a dock area. Jagged lines and jabbed vertical lines to the right of this scene may depict a small crowd of people. The lighthouse on a jetty in the bottom right-hand quadrant, which continues over onto folio 47 verso opposite (D23608; Turner Bequest CCLII 47a), appear to form a continuous view with the distant boats in the centre of the page and the line of islands on the horizon. One of these land-masses is identified as Herm Island in the English Channel within view of St Peter Port, Guernsey, thus providing a potential location for the various other scenes on the page.