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

Here Turner has drawn a series of diminutive views of Arundel in West Sussex, each rendered with the sketchbook turned upside down. Located on the banks of the River Arun, the town is dominated by the imposing Arundel Castle, seat of the Dukes of Norfolk (see Tate D18418; Turner Bequest CCX 63). The central prospect is annotated with an inscription beginning ‘Timber Cargo’, which likely describes the transportation of wood in the carts depicted.

These sketches are associated with Turner’s watercolour designs for W.B. Cooke’s Rivers of England: Arundel Castle on the River Arun, with a Rainbow (Tate D18139; Turner Bequest CCVIII F), Arundel Castle on the River Arun (Tate D18140; Turner Bequest CCVIII G) and Arundel Castle and Town, Sussex produced for the Picturesque Views in England and Wales print series (Tate impression T06109).1

For other sketches of Arundel Castle in this book see Tate D18419–D18461; Turner Bequest CCX 63–84a. See also Tate D22819–D22820, D22847–D22848, D22881–D22884, D22887, D22900–D22901, D22936, D23002–D23010; Turner Bequest CCXLV 21a–22, 38a–39, 60a–62, 63a, 70a–71, CCXLVI 22, 86a–91.