Joseph Mallord William Turner

With the page turned vertically, at the top left and right are studies of the stern and bows of a ship or ships; across the middle is a distant view of a large three-masted warship at anchor; and at the bottom is a crowded scene of a sailing boat passing three or more ships.

The central ship is comparable with the one moored in the background of the oil Sketch for ‘East Cowes Castle, the Regatta Beating to Windward’ No.3, of 1827 (Tate N01993),1 and the finished painting East Cowes Castle, the Seat of J. Nash, Esq.; the Regatta Beating to Windward, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1828 (Indianapolis Museum of Art).2 For more on studies in this sketchbook relating to the regatta events at Cowes from late July 1827 onwards, see the sketchbook Introduction.