Joseph Mallord William Turner

As part of unpublished Turner research informed by local knowledge, Dr Bernard Richards has confirmed this drawing, made with the page turned vertically, as a Dudley subject.1 The sketches between folios 50 recto and 54 recto (D22417–D22425) all seem to be of or looking from Wren’s Nest Hill, north of Dudley, in this case looking south-east towards the castle with a ravine or quarry below, as on subsequent pages. A painting of Dudley from the Wren’s Nest by Frederick Henry Henshaw (1807–1891; Dudley Museums Service) shows a similar aspect. Compare the sequence in the contemporary Kenilworth sketchbook (Tate D22085–D22090; Turner Bequest CCXXXVIII 57–59a). For other views of Dudley, see under folio 39 recto (D22395).