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

Inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, this sketch shows a crowd gathered around an array of items on the ground. There are various studies of fishermen, fish markets and coastal views in the sketchbook, particularly on adjacent pages at this end, as set out in the Introduction, and in that context this study suggests a fish market on a beach, although no setting is indicated in this case; compare folios 10 verso and 29 verso (D27743, D27778).