Joseph Mallord William Turner

Cliffs on Burgh Island

1813

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

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Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of: Plymouth, Hamoaze Sketchbook
Medium: Graphite on paper
Dimensions: Support: 95 × 157 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D09436
Turner Bequest CXXXI 166 a

Catalogue entry

With the page turned horizontally, this drawing is part of a sequence working in from the back cover of the sketchbook, which correlates with accounts of a voyage Turner and others made from Plymouth south-east to Burgh Island, returning by land towards Plymouth. The sequence begins on folio 275 (D09476; Turner Bequest CXXXI 186a), under which the overall trip is discussed, and may extend as far as folio 228 verso (Tate D09382; Turner Bequest CXXXI 139a).

The sketches between folios 260 verso and 253 verso (D09446 and D09432; CXXXI 171a, 164a) show Burgh Island, just off the coast at Bigbury-on-Sea, as discussed under D09446. Here Turner shows the rocky cliffs on the south side of the island.

Matthew Imms
April 2014

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