Joseph Mallord William Turner

With a backdrop of the view north-east along the Firth of Forth with North Berwick Law on the left and Bass Rock on the right,1 Turner has created a tableau of two fishing boats and a selection of fishing paraphernalia: baskets, fish, floats and a lobster pot. The boats seem to be pulled up on the beach, and the other objects are neatly laid out as if on display, suggesting that Turner either invented the scene, or rearranged objects that he had seen to make a pleasing composition. At the left of the picture, the drawing continued slightly onto folio 31 verso (D13635; CLXVII 30a).

Fishing boats and related paraphernalia are also present in William Daniell’s 1822 aquatint of The Bass Rock (Tate T02923), part of his Voyage Around Great Britain series; although the viewpoint differs.

There is a pale pink smudge at the bottom right of the page, the remains of Ruskin’s red ink numbering.