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

With the page turned horizontally, as identified in general terms by Finberg,1 the view is northwards to the cliffs below Dover Castle, likely from the beach below where Marine Parade and the coastal dual carriageway run in parallel west of the Eastern Docks. The chalk cliffs running east to the South Foreland are shown the top left, continued from the right-hand edge of the main view.

Set within the cliff towards the right are the outward indications of the extensive network of tunnels beneath the castle, with the two lower arches supporting a platform known as the Casemates Balcony, which is accessible to visitors today (a ‘casemate’ being a vaulted or fortified position). Moat’s Bulwark, now ruined and screened by trees, stands below. Compare folio 262 verso (D19361), looking back from further east, and see also Tate D19407 and D19413 (Turner Bequest CCXV 4, 7) in the contemporary Holland, Meuse and Cologne sketchbook, views of the castle from across the harbour with the arches picked out below.

This is among nearly forty consecutive pages towards the end of this sketchbook devoted to aspects of Dover and its castle (folios 253 verso–272 verso; D19343–D19381). For Turner’s many other views there in this sketchbook and elsewhere, see under folio 2 recto (D18843).