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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Wales and Isle of Wight 1795-1800 > Isle of Wight Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Steephill Cove, Isle of Wight 1795

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Steephill Cove, Isle of Wight’ 1795
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 31 Recto:
Steephill Cove, Isle of Wight 1795
D00438
Turner Bequest XXIV 30
Pencil on white wove paper, 204 x 264 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Steep Hill Cove’ bottom right
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘30’ bottom left, descending vertically (now very faint)
Stamped in black ‘XXIV 30’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
As the notes inside the front cover (transcribed in the sketchbook’s introduction), and on the flyleaf (D41250), indicate, John Landseer commissioned a watercolour based on this drawing. It has not been traced, and Landseer never made an engraving of it. Steephill, or ‘Steeple’, amid the impressive scenery of the Undercliff at the extreme southern tip of the island, had provided a number of subjects for Thomas Rowlandson (1756–1827) when he visited the Island in 1784 and 1791.
Verso:
Blank; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram.

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Steephill Cove, Isle of Wight 1795 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 2012, 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-steephill-cove-isle-of-wight-r1141016, accessed 26 April 2024.