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

The view is from the northern side of the Torpoint peninsula west of Plymouth, looking across the mouth of the St Germans or Lynher River towards Trematon Castle, rising towards the centre to the north-west. The absence of a shoreline on the far side is deceptive, as the shallow form of Beggar’s Island is closer to the southern bank of the river than to the headland shown beyond it here.

This is the first identifiable view on and around the river, as distinct from those on adjacent pages on the River Tamar and its estuary, the Hamoaze (see under folio 3 recto; D09671), into which the St Germans/Lynher flows. Sketches in the vicinity continue as far as folio 37 recto (D09714), if not 38 recto (D09714). For numerous sketches made in the area in the 1813 Plymouth, Hamoaze sketchbook, see under Tate D09255 and D09344 (Turner Bequest CXXXI 36, 117a).