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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > West Country 1811 > Corfe to Dartmouth Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Swanage Bay 1811

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Swanage Bay’ 1811
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 12 Recto:
Swanage Bay 1811
D08819
Turner Bequest CXXIV 12
Pencil on white wove paper, 170 x 209 mm
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom centre
Stamped in black ‘CXXIV – 12’ top left, upside down
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Beyond the waterfront of Swanage itself, the bay is seen from the south-west with Ballard Down and Old Harry Rocks in the distance. Turner’s high viewpoint is from about the present junction of Peveril Road and Durlston Road above Park Road. The drawing on folio 11 recto (D08818) is from Durlston Head, with the ridge from which the present view was made shown in the middle distance from the south, suggesting that Turner approached Swanage from that direction. The large building with a hipped roof may be the house on the High Street facing the original stone pier, later a hotel and now the Royal Victoria Apartments; its main façade is seen in the drawing from the opposite direction on folio 15 verso (D08822).
Further views of Swanage harbour follow on folios 13 recto and 14 recto (D08820, D08821).
Technical notes:
A piece missing from the bottom left-hand corner has been made good.
Verso:
Blank, with slight rubbing.

Matthew Imms
February 2011

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Swanage Bay 1811 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, February 2011, 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-swanage-bay-r1137302, accessed 19 April 2024.