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

This appears to be the view looking south-west from the road (now part of the Tamar Valley Discovery Trail) above Blaxton Creek, hidden below the crest of the hill in the foreground, with Bere Ferrers across the Tavy on the right and the confluence with the Tamar north of Saltash beyond the two shallow headlands subsequently connected by a railway bridge. The modern suburbs of Plymouth begin not far south of this viewpoint. The sketch is inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation. A study of a lime kiln beside a narrow watercourse with boats on folio 56 verso (D10285; CXXXVII 53a) may show Blaxton Quay, at the entrance to Blaxton Creek.

The present sketch is the last of numerous views in and around the Tamar and Tavy valleys, beginning on folio 46 verso (D10265; CXXXVII 43a), which were probably made in the summer of 1813 in conjunction with those in the smaller Devon Rivers, No.1 sketchbook (Tate; Turner Bequest CXXXII). The latter is covered in the section of the present catalogue specifically devoted to Turner’s 1813 visit to Devon, where further information on Turner’s work in the locality will be found.