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

The first word of the inscription, inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, is scrawled and rather faint, as if partially deleted. It may qualify the second, which is part of a more distinct inscription which continues on folio 10 verso opposite (D12138), under which it is discussed.

Inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, the landscape sketch here also continues opposite, albeit briefly. The main outlines of the present page suggest the classic view west up the bend of the Thames below Richmond Hill shown in a number of Turner’s works, most notably his large painting England: Richmond Hill, on the Prince Regent’s Birthday, exhibited in 1819 (Tate N00502).1 This identification is strengthened by reading the first word of Turner’s inscription as ‘Richmond’, while the date ‘July [?18] 1818’ on the opposite page might indicate the occasion of the drawing. There are similar panoramic views on folios 11 verso–12 recto, 12 verso–13 recto and 13 verso–14 recto (D12140–D12145).