Joseph Mallord William Turner

The Laira (Plym Estuary) near Saltram Park, with Plymouth Beyond

1814

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

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Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
Devon Rivers, No.2 Sketchbook
Medium
Graphite on paper
Dimensions
Support: 110 × 178 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D09715
Turner Bequest CXXXIII 39

Catalogue entry

Looking south-west down the Laira (Plym Estuary) towards Plymouth, Mount Batten and the Citadel are lightly indicated in the distance with Mount Edgcumbe beyond. This is one of a sequence of sketches from similar viewpoints in the neighbourhood of Boringdon Park; see also folios 40 recto and 41 recto (D09716, D09717). Compare the drawing in the 1811 Devonshire Coast, No.1 sketchbook (Tate D08567; Turner Bequest CXXIII 104a) and Turner’s oil sketch of 1813 (Tate D09211; Turner Bequest CXXX E).1
The exact viewpoint is difficult to establish owing to later development including housing and dual carriageways in the foreground. Saltram Park is on the slopes to the left; for other views of the house and estate see the Introduction to the 1813 West Country tour in this catalogue. The fortification on the summit to the right is Clarke’s Battery.2
For views at nearby Plympton, see under folio 42 recto (D09718).
1
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984, p.133 no.217, pl.218 (colour).
2
See Sam Smiles, ‘The Devonshire Oil Sketches of 1813’, Turner Studies, vol.9, no.1, Summer 1989, p.14.
Verso:
Blank

Matthew Imms
July 2014

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