Joseph Mallord William Turner

Dominated by the hull of an old warship in the foreground, the Cornish town of Saltash, shown in the distance in the view to the north on folio 196 recto (D08719; CXXIII 193), is seen here from the same angle across the Hamoaze (the Tamar Estuary), with the Tamar flowing south on the right, where the Royal Albert railway bridge now stands. A sketch on folio 65 verso (D08487; CXXIII 62a) shows an inn on the Saltash waterfront at that point.

The 1825 watercolour of Saltash, Cornwall (British Museum, London),1 depicting a distant, broader view from the south, was engraved in 1827 for Turner’s Picturesque Views in England and Wales. It is based overall on a study in the later Devon Rivers, No.2 sketchbook (Tate D09698; Turner Bequest CXXXIII 26), but is perhaps also informed by the more detailed view recorded here.

There is another Hamoaze view on the verso (D08722; CXXIII 195a). For other views in the Plymouth area in this sketchbook and elsewhere, see under folio 3 verso (D08367).