Joseph Mallord William Turner

As identified by Finberg, the drawing composed across this page, the facing sheet on folio 87 verso (D17501), and folio 86 verso (D17499), inverted relative to the foliation of the sketchbook, describes a view of the River Medway at Castle Upnor.1 The present portion of the study takes in a group of hulks and other vessels at right, with a distant view of Chatham Dockyards at left. A drawing on folio 43 verso (D17438) is often cited as the basis for the man of war in the finished watercolour.2 A detailed list of studies made at Chatham can be found in the entry for folio 22 recto (D17402).

This drawing is widely agreed to have informed the composition for the watercolour Upnor Castle, Kent of around 1831 (Whitworth Art Gallery) ³ engraved by J.B. Allen for the England and Wales series and published in 1833 (Tate impression T06102).4 For a more detailed account of the relationship between the Medway sketchbook drawing and the finished work, as well as for a list of related studies, see the entry for folio 87 verso (D17501).