Joseph Mallord William Turner

St Michael’s Mount is seen to the south-east along the coast of Mount’s Bay, with the pinnacles of St Gudwal’s Church at Gulval, north-east of Penzance, through the trees to the left. There is a wider view from a similar angle on folio 8 recto (D41283), and further views on the rectos of folios 10, 11, 12, 13, 85 and 87 (D41285–D41288, D41367, D41369). For nearby Penzance, see under folio 6 recto (D41281).

The Mount and Mount’s Bay are shown from the opposite direction in the contemporary Devonshire Coast, No.1 sketchbook (Tate D08715; Turner Bequest CXXIII 190a) and Ivy Bridge to Penzance sketchbook (Tate D08910; Turner Bequest CXXV 31). The Mount’s history is outlined under the latter, which is followed by detailed studies between Tate D08911 and D08937 (Turner Bequest CXXV 31a, 46).

As discussed in the introduction, the pages of this book are not recorded in Finberg’s 1909 Inventory of the Bequest, although he subsequently noted the subject as ‘St. Michls Mount in m.-d.’ in a manuscript listing,1 while C.F. Bell similarly described it in his own notes as ‘Mounts Bay and St Michael’s Mount’.2 Figures usually corresponding to Finberg’s MS catalogue page numbers, which differ from Bell’s sequence, are inscribed on the verso of most sheets.

Technical notes:

The sheet is slightly wrinkled, possibly as a result of exposure to damp.

Verso:

Blank, save for inscriptions: inscribed by C.F. Bell in pencil ‘Mounts Bay from near Gulval’ bottom left; inscribed by Edwin Fagg in pencil ‘136 | 37’ bottom right. There are glue stains at the corners of the sheet.