Joseph Mallord William Turner

As in the sketch facing on folio 61 verso of the sketchbook (D10515; Turner Bequest CXL 54a), Turner is positioned on the Royal Military Road (built 1804–9) from Winchelsea to Rye. Here he looks to his right at Camber Castle, noting sheep grazing on the surrounding marsh and the Royal Military Canal. He combined these elements in his watercolour (National Museum of Wales, Cardiff)1 engraved by Edward Goodall in 1824 for Picturesque Views on the Southern Coast of England, which brings the castle closer to Rye and makes the town higher than they are in reality, and invents building work to link an extension of the canal to the River Brede. The most direct source for the watercolour is in the Hastings sketchbook (Tate D10369–D10370; Turner Bequest CXXXIX 21a–22), perhaps developed from the sketches here.

For sketches made inside the walls of the castle see folios 60 verso and 61 of this sketchbook (D10513, D10514; Turner Bequest CXL 53a, 54).