Catalogue entry
With the page turned horizontally, this study, looking east along Plymouth Sound from below the Hoe towards the Citadel and the tower across the Cattewater at Mount Batten, informs the currently untraced watercolour
Plymouth Citadel of about 1813,
1 etched in 1814 and engraved in 1815 for the
Rivers of Devon but not published until 1823 (Tate impressions: Tate
T06009,
T05785; see the concordance of the series in the Introduction to the 1813 tour). The main lines of the design were taken from the view made a little further west on folio 8 recto (
D09225), but the dramatic localised shadow and rain clouds carefully recorded here were also incorporated.
The watercolour
Catwater, Plymouth of about 1826 (Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts, Hobart, Tasmania),
2 engraved in 1828 for the
Ports of England but not published until 1856 in the
Harbours of England (Tate impression:
T04836), probably also stems from the right-hand sections of the drawings here and on folio 8 recto (again, see the concordance in the 1813 Introduction).
William Daniell’s 1825 aquatint of
The Citadel, Plymouth from
A Voyage Round Great Britain (Tate impression:
T03002) shows a similar view from a higher vantage point. The drawings Turner made nearby on folios 9 recto and 10 recto (
D09225) were used for a companion
Rivers of Devon design showing Plymouth Sound.
The subjects as far as folio 127 recto (
D09358) are all identified or presumed sites within a few miles in and around Plymouth, suggesting a series of fairly short excursions.
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