Joseph Mallord William Turner

There appear to be hills and trees in the distance but there is otherwise little sense of scale, so that the size and nature of the features in the foreground are unclear. They may be some form of watercourse, as Finberg suggests. The sketch continues on folio 3 verso opposite (D12129).

Technical notes:

The central portion of the right-hand edge has irregular losses, presumably caused by rubbing against the clasp of the original cover (see the Introduction), similarly affecting the leaves from folio 1 (D12124, D12125) as far as folio 6 (the recto of which is D12132). There is a pale brown stain radiating from the centre of the right-hand edge, again apparently caused by proximity to the original clasp.

There seems to be the impression of a number ‘4’ next to the stamped figure at the bottom right, in accordance with John Ruskin’s usual practice of foliating Turner’s sketchbooks, but if written in ink it has faded completely. There are clearer numbers on most of the later pages (see the Introduction to the sketchbook).

Verso:

Blank