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

As ascertained by Finberg in his inventory of the Turner Bequest, this page describes Sandgate Castle on the Kent coast and other adjacent buildings in the town.1 The castle itself, a defensive fortress, is depicted at bottom right, where the main tower and surrounding walls are clearly delineated.

A house sits towards the centre, and on the right the Palladian-style Episcopal Chapel is sketched in some detail. Turner describes the chapel from the northwest, with Martello Tower number four visible beyond, stationed directly above on the tall cliffs behind. Consecrated in 1822, Turner’s inclusion of the landmark slightly extends the proposed date of 1821 for the sketchbook, pushing its use into the following year as well. For more information about the history of the structure, now destroyed, as well as a list of studies which describe Sandgate Castle, see the entry for folio 16 verso (D17233). For a comprehensive list of the Episcopal Chapel’s appearances, see the sketchbook Introduction. For a similar list of pages which describe Martello towers in the present sketchbook, see the entry for folio 5 verso (D17215).

A single stroke of the pencil, perhaps accidental, strikes through the centre of the page at a diagonal slant.

Technical notes:

A small hole has been pierced through the page towards bottom right, possibly when the paper was weaken by too much moisture; either water or the ink used on the verso (D17364). The inscriptions on the verso are consistently visible on the current sheet, where the ink has partially soaked through from the other side.