Light into Colour: Turner in the South West

28 January  –  7 May 2006

Room 2: From Landscape to Art

Sketchbooks

JMW Turner - Cornwall and Devon Sketchbook, 1811, Tate
Cornwall and Devon Sketchbook 1811
open at f. 49: St Ives
Tate Collection

This style of drawing is more meticulous than many of Turner's pencil sketches. The fact that he took such pains suggests that he may have intended to produce a watercolour of St Ives for the Southern Coast, although no such watercolour was in fact made.

JMW Turner - Plymouth, Hamoaze Sketchbook, c. 1812-3, Tate
Plymouth, Hamoaze Sketchbook c.1812–3
open at f.30: Mount Batten with the Catwater in the distance and fortifications
Tate Collection

Compare this sketch with the two views of Plymouth, also display in this room. Turner also sketched this view in 1811, in the Ivy Bridge to Penzance sketchbook.

JMW Turner - Devonshire Rivers no. 1 Sketchbook 1812-3, Tate
Devonshire Rivers no.1 Sketchbook 1812-3
open at f.66: Barnstaple Bridge
Tate Collection

Compare this drawing with the colour sketch of the same subject, also on display in this room.