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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1836-47 Modern painter > Kent Coast and Whaling c.1844-5 > Ideas of Folkestone Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Folkestone 1845

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Folkestone’ 1845
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 21 Recto:
Folkestone 1845
D35383
Turner Bequest CCCLVI 22
Pencil and watercolour on white wove paper, 230 x 328 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘F[?k]’ i.e. ‘Folkestone’ bottom right
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘22’ bottom right
Blind stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCCLVI–22’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Rough pencil jottings, similar to those found in folio 19 recto (D35381), suggest the sloping topography of a cliff as it merges into a small cove. Vigorous dry-brush strokes of ochre at the bottom right lend a sense of its texture. The contiguous headland is rendered in diluted red and blue wash which disperse into one another, feathering and bleeding to produce striking tonal gradations. Turner has inscribed ‘F[?k]’ in pencil at the bottom right, presumably shorthand for Folkestone.
Technical notes:
The pencil drawing appears to continue onto folio 20 verso (D35382) opposite at the centre close to the gutter of the sketchbook.

Alice Rylance-Watson
February 2013

How to cite

Alice Rylance-Watson, ‘Folkestone 1845 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, February 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, June 2013, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-folkestone-r1142161, accessed 24 April 2024.