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 > Devonshire Coast, No.1 Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner ?St Austell; Dodman Point 1811

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘?St Austell; Dodman Point’ 1811
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 129 Recto:
?St Austell; Dodman Point 1811
D08607
Turner Bequest CXXIII 126
Pencil on white wove writing paper, 75 x 117 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘St A[...]’ top right, and ‘Dead’ centre left
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘126’ bottom right, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CXXIII – 126’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The inscription on the smaller sketch, occupying the top third of the page vertically and the right-hand two thirds laterally (and framed by horizontal and vertical lines) appears to refer to St Austell, Cornwall. If so, the tower is that of Holy Trinity Church, but the viewpoint is uncertain.
Although he did not transcribe either inscription, Finberg seems to have inferred that Turner’s ‘Dead’ refers to Dodman, the last of a series of headlands running south about nine miles from St Austell, although the view appears to be from the neighbourhood of Fowey (see under folio 5 verso; D08371), a few miles to the east, looking south-west across Mevagissey Bay. See also folio 46 recto (D08449), inscribed ‘Deadman’.

Matthew Imms
June 2011

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘?St Austell; Dodman Point 1811 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, June 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-st-austell-dodman-point-r1137084, accessed 25 April 2024.