Joseph Mallord William Turner

East and West Looe

1811

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

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Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
Ivy Bridge to Penzance Sketchbook
Medium
Graphite on paper
Dimensions
Support: 166 × 208 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D08883
Turner Bequest CXXV 15 a

Catalogue entry

Turner looks south-east from above West Looe, Cornwall, with the River Looe running from the left and on to the sea in the distance. The castellated tower of St Martin’s Church, East Looe appears towards the centre, with the cupola of St Nicholas’s, West Looe near the bank on the right. Trees and a horse-drawn cart are lightly indicated in the foreground; the viewpoint is probably North Road, a little above the harbour.
This is the second of four drawings of Looe; see also folios 15 recto, 17 verso and 18 verso (D08881, D08885, D08887; CXXV 14, 16a, 17a). There are also studies in the contemporary Devonshire Coast, No.1 sketchbook (between Tate D08580 and D08588; Turner Bequest CXXIII 111a, 115a; and Tate D08614; Turner Bequest CXXIII 129a).

Matthew Imms
February 2011

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