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

Turner has divided the page into four, though the vertical and horizontal divisions are not continuous. The section at the top right has been isolated more emphatically, with two further pencil lines running left and downwards from the centre. Although the two lower sections appear at first sight to show two separate views of a valley or valleys – hence Finberg’s count of four sketches1 – they probably form a continuous panorama, as some strokes are continuous across the central division.

The view at the top left, including a church tower with a building some way to its right, appears to be a version of those seen on folio 73 verso (D09768), which show Tiverton and the Exe Valley from the north-west; that at the top right may show the town from the south, as seen again on folio 74 recto (D09769). The sketch of wooded hills beyond a broad valley across the bottom of the page annotated with a very brief word which may be ‘Exe’.