Joseph Mallord William Turner

Totnes is seen to the north-west up the River Dart, with the castle and St Mary’s Church towards the centre. There is a similar view on the recto (D08541). Eric Shanes has identified the present sketch as the basis for the watercolour Totnes, on the River Dart of about 1824 (Tate D18135; Turner Bequest CCVIII B),1 engraved in 1827 for The Rivers of England.2 Two drawings in the contemporary Corfe to Dartmouth sketchbook (Tate D08854, D08855; Turner Bequest CXXIV 39, 40), which have been noted in relation to the watercolour, show other aspects of the town,3 as does the sketch on folio 139 recto (D08625; CXXIII 136).

Along with other sketches of Totnes in the later Devon Rivers, No.2 sketchbook, there is one from a similar viewpoint (Tate D09726; Turner Bequest CXXXIII 48) which probably also informed the Rivers of England composition.

Turner writes of the town in his poetry on folio 164 verso (D08670; CXXIII 161a).