Joseph Mallord William Turner

These swiftly rendered sketches record aspects of Yarmouth on the Norfolk coast. Yarmouth harbour was home to the North Sea division of the Royal Navy at the time of Turner’s visit.1 Windmills and post mills feature in each view, in addition to quayside buildings, houses, warehouses for the fisheries, and lastly St Nicholas’ Church pictured towards bottom right.

This drawing and others in the sketchbook (Tate D18178, D18212–D18214, D18217–D18221, D18223; Turner Bequest CCIX 12, 29–30, 31a–33a, 34a) were developed into a finished watercolour of Yarmouth engraved by William Miller in 1829 for the Picturesque Views in England and Wales series (see Tate impression T04547).2 Turner also produced a watercolour of Yarmouth Sands for the East Coast scheme which was never engraved (see general introduction to this sketchbook.3