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

This view of Dunbar, although not finished to any great degree, is identifiable from its similarity to William Daniell’s 1822 aquatint, Dunbar, Haddingtonshire from a Voyage Round Great Britain (Tate T02924). Like Daniell’s print, we look across the harbour at the town with the harbour wall in the foreground and a few wavy lines to indicate water in front of it. Two light vertical lines indicate the masts of boats that are visible behind the wall as in Daniell’s work, and the tower of one church to the left, and spire of another are also common features. The same buildings appear in both images, notable the double-roofed, three-storey building behind the harbour wall. Turner must have been standing on the quayside that is visible in the foreground of Daniell’s print.

These sketch follows another in this sketchbook of the town looking slightly more to the east (right) (folio 24; D13365; CLXV 24).