Joseph Mallord William Turner

A Boat ?off Margate Pier; Inscriptions by Turner: Figures and a Draft of Poetry

c.1830

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

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Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
Kent Sketchbook
Medium
Graphite on paper
Dimensions
Support: 76 × 98 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D35786
Turner Bequest CCCLXIII 15 a

Catalogue entry

Inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, the drawing in the lower half of the page is rather slight, but shows a small sailing boat off what looks like a pier and other structures. The slender tower towards the left may be the lighthouse at the western end of Margate’s pier, while the parallel strokes at the centre possibly indicate the tower of Holy Trinity Church; compare the more detailed drawing on folio 10 verso (D35776).
The other way up at the bottom right are figures relates to the building specifications occupying the whole of folio 16 recto opposite (D35787).
Above the drawing, lines of verse take up the top half of the page:
On the lone beach beyond the Lovers
Stand, and on the H[...]
[...]d the [?’swirling’ or ‘swelling’] waves carries each [?other].
Under[...]
For the several pages of poetry in this sketchbook and a discussion of their theme, see the Introduction.

Matthew Imms
September 2016

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