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

This is a partially developed study of the Front at Brighton, and includes some of the imposing Regency townhouses overlooking the beach and the Channel beyond. These buildings were fairly newly developed, and were constructed during Brighton’s ‘boom’ in the mid-eighteenth century. The town became a popular tourist destination and health resort, patronized by the Prince of Wales, who constructed his lavish summer palace, the Royal Pavilion, there during the early part of his Regency. In this drawing Turner pictures some of the grand terraced townhouses constructed during this flourishing period. The artist has inscribed an array of short notes and numbers to annotate this sketch, recording details such as ‘6 col[umns]’ above the first building at left. The notes are transcribed in full above.

For further sketches of Brighton in this book see Tate D18345–D18350, D18353–D18365, D18369–D18371; Turner Bequest CCX 21–23a, 25a–33a, 35a–36a. See also Turner’s design Brighthelmstone, produced for Cooke’s Picturesque Views of the Southern Coast of England and published in 1825 (Tate impression T05289 and Tate D18469; Turner Bequest CCX 88).