Joseph Mallord William Turner

La Coupée, Sark Island

?1832

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In Tate Britain

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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
D23636
Turner Bequest CCLII 61 a

Catalogue entry

Inverted in relation to the sketchbook as foliated, the sketched passages on this page depict the kind of high jagged cliffs that abound in the Channel Islands and on Sark in particular. 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 The footpath over this dangerous formation can be seen winding up from the centre of the page towards the top right-hand corner.
This geological eminence features frequently in the sketchbook; for a full listing of these drawings, see folio 56 recto (D23625; Turner Bequest CCLII 56).

John Chu
April 2014

1
J.T. Cochrane, A Guide to the Island of Guernsey, St Peter Port 1826, p.141.

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