Joseph Mallord William Turner

Plymouth Sound: The Citadel, Mount Batten and Drake’s Island

1813

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In Tate Britain

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Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
Plymouth, Hamoaze Sketchbook
Medium
Graphite on paper
Dimensions
Support: 95 × 157 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D09466
Turner Bequest CXXXI 181 a

Catalogue entry

On the right is the profile of Drake’s Island from the west, with Plymouth Citadel to the north-west on the extreme left and the tower of Mount Batten (to the left of the boat silhouetted against the morning light), on the eastern shore of Plymouth Sound. There is a similar view on folio 271 verso (D09468; CXXXI 182a).
With the page turned horizontally, this drawing is part of a sequence working in from the back cover of the sketchbook, which correlates with accounts of a voyage Turner and others made from Plymouth south-east to Burgh Island, returning by land towards Plymouth. The sequence begins on folio 275 (D09476; Turner Bequest CXXXI 186a), under which the overall trip is discussed, and may extend as far as folio 228 verso (Tate D09382; Turner Bequest CXXXI 139a).

Matthew Imms
April 2014

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