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

This is one of many drawings of rocks or crags off the coast between Dunbar and North Berwick. Considering this page’s proximity to drawings of Dunbar Harbour, especially to a drawing of the rocks at the harbour mouth (folio 25; D13367; CLXV 25), it is likely that these too are the hazardous rocks at the entrance to the harbour of Dunbar. While these sketches are topographically obscure, the subject of these crags – their shapes and especially their formations – seem to have interested Turner as he made numerous studies. By collecting various examples Turner secured the appearance of these very geological features in his memory and was able to recreate their appearance in his resulting watercolours.