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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > East Sussex c.1806-20 > Hastings Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Hastings from the Sea; Buildings in the Town c.1816-18

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Hastings from the Sea; Buildings in the Town’ c.1816-18
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 22 Verso:
Hastings from the Sea; Buildings in the Town circa 1816–18
D10371
Turner Bequest CXXXIX 22a
Pencil on white wove paper, 129 x 205 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil with numerous colour notes above the line of buildings on the lower part of the sheet
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The drawings on this leaf are made with the sketchbook inverted and continued on folio 23 (D10372). The upper part of the double-spread is occupied by a view of Hastings seen from off-shore, stretching from the castle to East Hill. The lower portion has a closer view of the town, bringing the same buildings into clearer focus. They are annotated with colour notes. Turner’s careful fact-finding and preparations here bore fruit in the ‘intricately structured and well-observed’1 watercolour Hastings from the Sea (British Museum, London)2 which is dated 1818. By 1822, William Bernard Cooke was planning to engrave the watercolour for a sequel to Views in Sussex, to be called ‘Views at Hastings and its Vicinity’. This never appeared. Intermediate between Turner’s drawing and watercolour are two colour beginnings (Tate D17200, D17201; Turner Bequest CXCVII J, K).
For a similar but slightly less detailed view of Hastings from the shore see folios 24 verso–25 (D10375–D10376). Other views drawn on the Stade and shore at Hastings are on folios 23 verso, 24, 25 verso–29 (D10373, D103774, D10377–9).

David Blayney Brown
May 2011

1
Shanes 1981, p.21.
2
Andrew Wilton, The Life and Work of J.M.W. Turner, Fribourg 1979, p.357 no.504.

How to cite

David Blayney Brown, ‘Hastings from the Sea; Buildings in the Town c.1816–18 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 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-hastings-from-the-sea-buildings-in-the-town-r1131599, accessed 19 April 2024.