Joseph Mallord William Turner

Provenance:
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John Dillon sale 29 April 1869 (128)
Bought by Agnew
William Quilter, sale Christie 9 April 1875 (242)
Bought by Isaac
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Bequeathed by Beresford Rimington Heaton 1940

Entitled Aldborough, Suffolk, this highly finished and colour-rich drawing depicts Aldeburgh, a town which lies on the Suffolk North Sea Coast moments north of the River Alde and Orford Ness. Aldeburgh emerged as a thriving port in the fourteenth century, known for its shipbuilding and fishing industries. Following a period of decline brought about by a sequence of violent storms it was revived in the early nineteenth century by the fashion for sea bathing. The town became a holiday resort, ‘a watering place’, much frequented for its picturesque scenery, seafront promenades and health-giving air.1

In this drawing, however, Turner depicts an altogether separate aspect of the town to that which belonged to holidaymakers. He pictures Aldeburgh’s maritime economy, represented by two groups of sailors and fishermen working at dawn. They are shown from the perspective of the River Alde, with Orford Ness, a long shingle spit, separating the river from the North Sea, which is also visible at far right. The left group is comprised of three men: one holds the oars of a small row boat while his companions mend a floating ship’s mast. As they toil the mast bobs up and down against the force of their hammering and the glassy surface of the water is gently disturbed. Waves of concentric ripples are sent outward from the locus of activity. At right, meanwhile, fishermen set sail to catch the day’s haul. A yawl and schooner are docked at a harbour in the background, and beyond Aldeburgh itself is rendered in fine delineation. The Church of St Peter and St Paul can be seen at left and Fort Green tower mill, built in 1824 for grinding corn, is located close to the seafront.

Conspicuous atop the mound at right is Slaughden Martello Tower: the most northerly of a chain of defensive towers built along the South and East coasts of England in response to Napoleonic invasion. Constructed on Orford Ness between 1808 and 1812, the tower is quatrefoil shaped and had platforms for four guns.2 Turner appears to have diminished its proportions somewhat as the actual building is forty feet in diameter and the same in height.3