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

These sketches show aspects of Brighton: the beach and Front and, at top right, a distant view of the hills around Hove with windmills. In 1825 Turner’s contemporary John Constable pictured the smock mill at West Blatchington, Hove, though this was just one of many windmills situated on the South Downs near Brighton in Turner’s day.1 The artist has inscribed ‘S[...] R [and R[...]’ at top right, ‘W House and [?Stein]’ at centre right. ‘Stein’ may refer to ‘Old’ or ‘New Stein’: squares in Brighton town centre.

There is a separate jotting of what appears to be a link in a chain, possibly part of the cables suspended on Brighton Chain Pier.

For further sketches of Brighton in this book see Tate D18343–D18350, D18353–D18365, D18369–D18371; Turner Bequest CCX 20a–23a, 25a–33a, 35a–36a. See also Tate D22773; Turner Bequest CCXLIV 111 and N01986, N02064, T03886, T04421. 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).