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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Margate, London and Surrey c.1829-45 > Kent Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Margate from the West c.1830

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Margate from the West’ c.1830
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 10 Verso:
Margate from the West c.1830
D35776
Turner Bequest CCCLXIII 10a
Pencil on white wove paper, 76 x 98 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The drawing is inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation. Margate is seen to the east across the sweep of the bay, with the pier and lighthouse on the left and the tower of Holy Trinity Church (1829, since demolished) above. Tate D22548 and D22552 (Turner Bequest CCXLI 75, 78) in the contemporary Marine Dabblers sketchbook show similar aspects; compare also the background of the watercolour Margate, Kent of about 1830 (Herbert Art Gallery, Coventry),1 engraved in 1832 for the Picturesque Views in England and Wales (Tate impressions: T04590–T04592, T06098).
As discussed in the sketchbook’s Introduction, Margate was presumably Turner’s base for his exploration of the various other sites at the eastern end of Kent recorded on other pages. See also folios 2 recto, 6 recto and 15 verso (D35760, D35767, D35786).
1
Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.398 no.839, reproduced.
Technical notes:
There is some scattered brown staining which has passed through the paper from the recto (D35775).

Matthew Imms
September 2016

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Margate from the West c.1830 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2016, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2016, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-margate-from-the-west-r1183739, accessed 25 April 2024.