Joseph Mallord William Turner

Although this hilly, wooded scene is recorded in some detail, its lack of distinctive landmarks makes it difficult to differentiate as a view of Devon in 1814 or in Yorkshire in 1816, the two occasions when this sketchbook was employed (see the Introduction).

Technical notes:

In terms of its present position, this drawing is inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation. The recto (D09878; Turner Bequest CXXXIV 76) is one of eight drawings from this sketchbook lent to Oxford University in the nineteenth century (see the sketchbook’s Introduction). Each has a large pencil number inscribed on the back which presumably relates to this loan, although they do not tally with the Oxford catalogue numbers. In this case the number is evidently ‘118’ (rather than ‘811’ if read the other way up) in sequence with the others, for example ‘119’ on folio 16 verso (D09877; Turner Bequest CXXXIV 75a).