Joseph Mallord William Turner

See catalogue note to folio 35 verso of the sketchbook (D05889), a slighter sketch that seems to show the same pollarded willow near the centre and group of trees to its right; 36 verso (D05891) has similar features and clearly shows Wittenham Clumps in the right distance. The stretch of river in all three sketches may be near Sutton Courtenay, as Hill suggests for the present example, which he also relates to the contemporary, unfinished oil Washing Sheep (Tate N02699);1 this is surely correct, although elsewhere, while noting the presence of Wittenham Clumps in the background, he suggests the oil depicts scenery near Dorchester. It had formerly been suggested that the oil represents the River Wey.2