Joseph Mallord William Turner

Finberg suggests that the subject may be St Giles’s Hill, from which a popular view of Winchester from the east was obtainable. St Giles’s Hill is now Telegraph or Magdalen Hill. However, the conformation of the rocks suggests a coastal cliff, and this may be a sketch made later in the tour, perhaps at Blackgang or in another of the dramatic chines along the south coast of the Isle of Wight (see folios 30 recto, 31 recto, 36 recto; D00437, D00438, D00443; Turner Bequest XXIV 29, 30, 35) on a leaf inadvertently left blank, rather than the record of an excursion to one of the hills outside Winchester, which would surely have resulted in at least one view of the city from above.

Verso:

Blank; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram.