Joseph Mallord William Turner

These drawings were made on three registers with the page turned vertically, working down from the outer edge. Here, on folio 26 verso opposite and the verso (D20638, D20640; Turner Bequest CCXXVI 25a, 26a) are busy scenes of sailing and rowing boats manoeuvring in close proximity, as well as crowds of figures. D20640 includes a view from Cowes across the River Medina towards East Cowes Castle, and suggests that the whole sequence was made from the shoreline at Cowes during the Regatta or related events from late July 1827 onwards. These are among many such coastal and nautical studies in this sketchbook, as discussed in the Introduction.

Technical notes:

The top drawing is unusual in its use of a horizontal band of smudging across the waves and boat in the foreground to introduce tone, perhaps suggesting a momentary shadow passing over the water.