Joseph Mallord William Turner

La Coupée, Sark Island; Cliffs ?near Fort La Marchant, Guernsey

?1832

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

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Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of: Guernsey Sketchbook
Medium: Graphite on paper
Dimensions: Support: 114 × 187 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D23626
Turner Bequest CCLII 56 a

Catalogue entry

Turner filled this page with views of the type of high jagged cliffs that abound in the Channel Islands. As indicated by Turner’s note, the sketch on the top half of the page records the point at which Little Sark is joined to the main island by an extremely high and narrow isthmus called La Coupée.1 This geological feature frequently recurs in the sketchbook; for a full listing of these drawings, see folio 56 recto (D23625; Turner Bequest CCLII 56).

The lower sketch, inverted in relation to the sketchbook as foliated, is inscribed Le Marchant, indicative of a location in Guernsey near the fort of that name.2 This location recurs on folio 88 verso (D23690; Turner Bequest CCLII 88a).

John Chu
April 2014

J.T. Cochrane, A Guide to the Island of Guernsey, St Peter Port 1826, p.141.

Martin White, Sailing Directions for the English Channel, London 1835, p.107.

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