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

This leaf and folio 41 (D10582; Turner Bequest CXL 88) were described by Finberg as ‘loose and unnumbered’ but probably belonging ‘originally’ to this sketchbook. They now look out of place, from a technical point of view, as bound in. Both have a fold or join across the centre with what look like holes or stitch marks as if they were formerly bound differently, perhaps in another smaller book as double-spreads. If so this arrangement would have preceded their location as described by Finberg, as ‘pages’ 87 and 88, so they may have been moved at least three times.

This folio, its verso (D10581) and folio 41 all show buildings along the beach at Deal. In the present case these include the Royal Hotel and its immediate neighbours including a low Dutch-gabled building on the edge of the beach, as seen in Turner’s watercolour (Deal Town Hall)1 engraved by William Radclyffe in 1826 for Picturesque Views on the Southern Coast of England. This sketch runs further to the left to show luggers drawn up on the shingle whereas only half of the gabled structure appears in the watercolour. However, Turner probably referred to the sketch as well as the drawing in the later Holland sketchbook (Tate D19382; Turner Bequest CCXIV 273) as he prepared his design for Southern Coast.