With the sketchbook turned to the left are various views along the North Yorkshire coast, made as Turner travelled south by sea from Edinburgh to London (see folio 78;
D17644). The top three are, as the inscription indicates, around ‘Robin Hood’s Bay’. The top sketch shows the coast from the town at the left to the headland of Ness Point at the right. Beneath this are two further sketches of the cliffs nearby. The second sketch includes a sailing boat travelling south along the coast, a small, dark shape at the bottom that may be a bird taking off or landing on the water (see folio 88;
D18664), and an inscription on the cliffs that may read ‘grass.’
The forth and fifth sketches down the page are both of ‘Whitby’ from the east. St Hilda’s Abbey is shown in the lower sketch and both drawings shows the stack of Saltwick Nabb just to the east of the town. At the bottom of the page is a view of Bamburgh Castle from the north-west as in folio 86 (
D17660).
A small tear at the top right of the page has been repaired.
Thomas Ardill
August 2008