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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Folkestone and the Medway c.1821-2 > Folkestone Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Dover Harbour, from the East c.1821-2

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Dover Harbour, from the East’ c.1821-2
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 72 Recto:
Dover Harbour, from the East c.1821–2
D17330
Turner Bequest CXCVIII 72
Pencil on white wove paper, 113 x 187 mm
Stamped in black ‘CXCVIII – 72’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
As suggested by Finberg, across this and the facing page on folio 71 verso (D17329), Turner makes a study of Dover harbour viewed from the eastern shoreline.1 The present page is almost completely occupied with the imposing face of the famous chalk cliffs, which loom above the artist as he records his view, which is adopted from the eastern side of the bay. The handling is precise and considered, with care applied to the various deviations and crevasses in the rock. These are sometimes described with light hatching, and in other places delineated using tightly compacted strokes, particularly towards the top of the page. The shore is indicated towards bottom left with a single, wavering line, and at far left, towards the gutter, a small cluster of houses is picked out. The harbour itself is examined on the facing page, and includes Shakespeare Cliff at its centre. For a more detailed description of this section of the composition, see the entry for that page.
For a list of works which describe Dover in this sketchbook, see the entry for folio 71 verso (D17329).
1
Finberg 1909, I, p.606.
Verso:
Blank

Maud Whatley
January 2016

How to cite

Maud Whatley, ‘Dover Harbour, from the East c.1821–2 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, January 2016, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, February 2017, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-dover-harbour-from-the-east-r1184604, accessed 26 April 2024.