Laugharne Castle from the South West

The inscription on the verso indicates that Turner had received a commission for a watercolour based on this drawing from Alexander Pope (1763–1835), a miniature painter who seems to have been an occasional patron in these years. That work was either never executed or has not survived. The same drawing was later used for the England and Wales watercolour (Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Columbus, Ohio)1 engraved in 1833.

The drawing was made with the page turned horizontally.

Verso:

Inscribed in pencil, ‘A Pope Esq’; and by Ruskin in red ink ‘803 | 176 Inv’; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram.

Alexander Pope was a miniature painter who seems to have commissioned several watercolours from Turner in the 1790s. He registered an interest in the subject on the recto of this leaf, Laugharne Castle, and in Turner’s drawing of North Shore, Tenby; see folio 23 recto (Tate D00575; Turner Bequest XXVI 22) of this book, and his name is noted on the verso of a more elaborate version of the same subject, Tate D00690 (Turner Bequest XXVIII E). In 1797 he figured in the Hereford Court sketchbook as having asked for views of Ludlow and Conway; see Tate D01261, D01304 and D01351 (Turner Bequest XXXVIII 11a, 50a, 97).