28 January
–
7 May 2006
Room 3: Approaching Land's End
Lands End, Cornwall
1814
copper line-engraving, published as part of the
Southern Coast
Tate
Collection
copper line-engraving, published as part of the
Southern Coast
Tate
CollectionThe two colour beginnings of Lands End have been plausibly identified as abandoned sketches of the 1830s, preparatory work to a watercolour of the subject that would have appeared in the England and Wales series. However, Turner laid this work aside, perhaps because it was too similar in viewpoint to the Lands End he had painted for the Southern Coast, whose engraving was published in 1814 (also on display).
Instead, Turner seems to have decided to concentrate on Longships Lighthouse, using the same opposition of dark sea on the left and warm land on the right, but sinking the horizon to engage with the tumult of the waves.