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

The sketches of Leith Roads on this page begin the sequence of drawings that Turner made on his return journey to London by sea. These final views of Leith from the water depict shipping silhouetted against the sky and are unique in this sketchbook for showing the weather and light along with the harbour.

The four sketches are made with the sketchbook turned to the left. At the top is a view of the western half of Edinburgh with the castle. Topography, however, comes second in this sketch to the weather and its effects of light and colour. White and grey clouds half fill the ‘Blue’ sky which is ‘y[e]l[lo]w’ at the right and ‘light’ towards the horizon. The interest in the sky is maintained in the sketch beneath, and at the bottom of the page. Several pages towards the front and back of the sketchbook also show an interest in the sky and weather effects (see folio 3; D17512 for references).

The second and third sketches down concentrate on anchored vessels seen against a largely nondescript coast. The background is identifiable as Leith, however, from the island at the right of the third sketch which is Inchkeith. The two sketches may be continuous, with the right of the second joining up with the left side of the third, making this a view of the east side of Leith towards Portobello.

At the bottom of the page is a view familiar from elsewhere in the sketchbook (see folio 53 verso; D17598). From just west of Leith we look east along the Firth of Forth with Leith’s Martello tower in the centre, and the now-removed West Pier at the right, with a lighthouse or signal tower at its head. Several vessels are seen against the sky which is crossed with horizontal bands of cloud. At the top centre may be the disc of the sun, meaning that this drawing was made in the morning.

These sketches are likely to have been made in the morning of Turner’s departure from Edinburgh. There follows in the sketchbook drawings made from the deck of a boat on Turner’s return to London along the east coast (folios 78 verso–84, 86, 87, 88, 91 and 91 verso; D17645–D17656, D17660, D17662, D17664, D17670, D17671).