J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > West Country 1811 > Devonshire Coast, No.1 Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Bridgwater Bay and the Coast Beyond from Blue Anchor Bay 1811

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Bridgwater Bay and the Coast Beyond from Blue Anchor Bay’ 1811
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 166 Recto:
Bridgwater Bay and the Coast Beyond from Blue Anchor Bay 1811
D08673
Turner Bequest CXXIII 163
Pencil on white wove writing paper, 75 x 117 mm
Part watermark ‘yth | 96’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Blu [...] bottom right
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘163’ bottom right, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CXXIII – 163’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The drawing is in two parts. There is a horizon to the left of the coastal cliffs in the main drawing, while the coastal rocks across the whole of the page towards the top are a continuation of the coast towards Weston-super-Mare and Flat Holm and Steep Holm islands, which also appear on folios 19 verso (D08398) and 121 recto (D08592; CXXIII 118), drawn at Dunster and Cheddar respectively. The viewpoint for the present study is where the Carhampton–Watchet road leaves the coast at Blue Anchor Bay, as apparently indicated by Turner’s inscription; there is a view in the opposite direction, towards Dunster, from the same location on folio 165 verso opposite (D08672; CXXIII 162a).
There is a more delicate rendering of the eastwards view in the contemporary Somerset and North Devon sketchbook (Tate D08957; Turner Bequest CXXVI 11), where Flat Holm and Steep Holm are also seen in a view from Dunster (Tate D08953; Turner Bequest CXXVI 7).
Verso:
Blank

Matthew Imms
June 2011

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Bridgwater Bay and the Coast Beyond from Blue Anchor Bay 1811 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, June 2011, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-bridgwater-bay-and-the-coast-beyond-from-blue-anchor-bay-r1137151, accessed 19 April 2024.