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

There are two or three sketches on this page. At the centre left is a towered building which, judging by its proximity to a sketch of Rokeby Hall (folio 51; D25622), may represent the nearby Mortham Tower; although if so, Turner has only drawn it approximately on this occasion, missing out the crenellations on the tower (see folio 10; D25542 for a more distinctive view). To the right of the tower are several buildings which, although in the right place to be the courtyard of outhouses to the east of Mortham Tower, do not resemble them and are more likely to be an unrelated sketch, perhaps of buildings in the town of Barnard Castle. Alternatively, this sketch may be of an unidentified church as it resembles a sketch on folio 61 verso (D25638) of a church by a river.

The sketch at the top of the page appears to be of a grand house, though it is not obviously Rokeby Hall. The inscription above the sketch which looks like ‘Missend’ sheds no further light on the location.

The previous sketchbook page has been ripped out, presumably by Turner as the sketches on this page and folio 51 verso overlap.