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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Scotland 1818-20 > Bass Rock and Edinburgh Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Sketches of the East Lothian Coast 1818

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Sketches of the East Lothian Coast’ 1818
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 11 Recto:
Sketches of the East Lothian Coast 1818
D13341
Turner Bequest CLXV 11
Pencil on white laid paper, 99 x 159 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘4’ upper centre, and ‘2’ top right
Stamped in black ‘CLXV 11’ descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
A series of sketches across this page show views of the shoreline of East Lothian, or perhaps views of distant hills. At the top of the page is a sketch of some buildings, perhaps made in connection to the sketch of Edinburgh on the previous page, rather than relating directly to the landscape shown on this one. At the bottom of the page is a drawing of a rock, which could perhaps show the shoal of rocks near Tantallon Castle called St Baldred’s Boat, or perhaps Fidra, or the Isle of May, also drawn earlier in this sketchbook (folio 4 verso, D13328; CLXV 4a). The numbers ‘4’ and ‘2’ are inscribed on the landscape, probably to remind Turner of particular colours or tones. There are similar sketches of coastlines on folio 63 (D13433; CLXV 61).

Thomas Ardill
October 2007

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Sketches of the East Lothian Coast 1818 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, October 2007, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-sketches-of-the-east-lothian-coast-r1131883, accessed 18 April 2024.