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 Figures on the Beach at Teignmouth 1811

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Figures on the Beach at Teignmouth’ 1811
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 71 Verso:
Figures on the Beach at Teignmouth 1811
D08499
Turner Bequest CXXIII 68a
Pencil on white wove writing paper, 75 x 117 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Teign’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The shapes on the left appear to be horses or donkeys with panniers by a beached boat. There are about ten figures gathered on the right but their identities and activities are unclear.
Teignmouth, on the Devon coast between Exmouth and Torquay, is mentioned in Turner’s poetry on folio 164 verso (Tate D08670; Turner Bequest CXXIII 161a). For further views, some less certainly identified than others, see folio 72 recto opposite (D08500; CXXIII 69), and folios 72 verso, 75 verso, 87 verso, 89 recto, 91 recto and verso, 92 recto and 242 verso (D08501, D08507, D08528, D08531, D08535–D08537, D08789; CXXIII 69a, 72a, 84a, 86, 88, 88a, 89, 239v).
Probably in preparation for his 1811 tour, Turner made historical and architectural notes on Teignmouth and its surroundings from a recent edition of John Feltham’s Guide to All the Watering and Sea-Bathing Places in the Vale of Heathfield sketchbook (Tate D10206; Turner Bequest CXXXVII 1).

Matthew Imms
June 2011

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Figures on the Beach at Teignmouth 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-figures-on-the-beach-at-teignmouth-r1136976, accessed 16 July 2025.