Joseph Mallord William Turner

With the sketchbook turned horizontally, Turner filled this page with small seaside views. Art historian Ian Warrell has identified this and neighbouring sketches in the volume as depictions of the coastal hinterlands around Le Havre where the Seine debouches into the English Channel. Special attention has been paid to the way in which the jagged skyline of human settlement punctuates the horizon between sea and sky. Towards the top right-hand corner Turner has caught the effect of the masts of ships rising above buildings to reveal the presence of a hidden dock. A list of pages in the sketchbook featuring Le Havre and Cap de la Hève is provided in the entry for folio 48 recto (D23975; Turner Bequest CCLIV 48).