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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Farnley Hall and Yorkshire c.1808-24 > Scarborough 1 Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner In the ?South Bay, Scarborough: A Man Riding a Dark Horse into Low Waves on Wet Sands c.1816-18

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘In the ?South Bay, Scarborough: A Man Riding a Dark Horse into Low Waves on Wet Sands’ c.1816-18
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 7 Recto:
In the ?South Bay, Scarborough: A Man Riding a Dark Horse into Low Waves on Wet Sands c.1816–18
D11948
Turner Bequest CL 29
Pencil on white wove paper, 117 x 180 mm
Inscribed by an unknown hand in red ink ‘29’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CL 29’ bottom left
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The second of two sketches, preceded as folio 6 by D11947, Turner Bequest CL 28, recording a dark horse being ridden along wet sands. To the left here is the skeleton of an old hulk or a ship being built, and to the right a two-master at anchor. Beyond the horse a number of buildings tumble down to the shore. If Scarborough, there is no sign of the harbour or castle, but indications in the distance here suggest foggy conditions, so perhaps all else is obscured. The setting does indeed appear to be the south bay at Scarborough, for a similar skeletal ship occurs seen from the opposite direction in a readily identifiable sketch of the south bay (D11944; Turner Bequest CL 25).
Verso:
Blank, except for inscription by ?John Ruskin in red ink ‘168 I’ bottom left (see notes to folio 3, D11945; Turner Bequest CL 26).

David Hill
September 2008

How to cite

David Hill, ‘In the ?South Bay, Scarborough: A Man Riding a Dark Horse into Low Waves on Wet Sands c.1816–18 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2008, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, September 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-in-the-south-bay-scarborough-a-man-riding-a-dark-horse-into-r1146940, accessed 26 April 2024.