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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Northern France c.1826-32 > Loose Studies of Northern France > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Cliffs, near Dieppe c.1826-7

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Cliffs, near Dieppe’ c.1826-7
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Cliffs, near Dieppe c.1826–7
D25425
Turner Bequest CCLXIII 302
Pencil and watercolour on paper, 172 x 241 mm
Inscribed in red ink by John Ruskin ‘302’ bottom right
Blind stamped with the Turner Bequest monogram bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCLXIII – 302’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner specialist Ian Warrell has suggested that this is one of eight colour sketches of the area in and around Dieppe that was once formed a group with a further twelve studies of the same location but which were subsequently divided up by John Ruskin in the 1850s.1 Collectively, these sketches have been characterised as preparatory work towards one of several abortive attempts to put the material gathered on the 1826 tour of Northern France to use,2 most likely the failed The English Channel or La Manche print series.3
1
Ian Warrell, Turner on the Loire, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1997, p. 161.
2
David Blayney Brown, Sarah Skinner and Ian Warrell, Coasting: Turner and Bonington on the Shores of the Channel, exhibition catalogue, Nottingham Castle 2008, p.59.
3
Warrell, London 1997, pp.158–71.
Verso:
Blank

John Chu
March 2016

How to cite

John Chu, ‘Cliffs, near Dieppe c.1826–7 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, March 2016, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, March 2017, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-cliffs-near-dieppe-r1185597, accessed 16 July 2025.