Joseph Mallord William Turner

From a little further back, to show more of the foreground and with the distant headlands aligned differently, this is a variation on the view on the recto of this leaf (D08905). Along with the latter, Eric Shanes notes the present sketch a source for the watercolour Pendennis Castle, Cornwall, Scene after a Wreck of about 1816 (private collection),1 engraved in 1817 for the Picturesque Views on the Southern Coast of England2 (see the concordance of the series in the 1811 tour introduction), although the more refined version on the recto probably provided enough information in itself.

Unusually among Turner’s generally linear pencil sketches, the slope below the castle is shaded grey, perhaps to indicate shadow observed at that point or its relative tone. The equivalent part of the recto is painted in watercolour.

Technical notes:

There is some brown spotting on the page.