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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Ports of England c.1822-8 > 'Ports of England' Studies > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Folkestone c.1822-3

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Folkestone’ c.1822-3
Folkestone c.1822–3
D17761
Turner Bequest CCIII D
Pen and ink and pencil on white wove paper, 174 x 230 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘The Cliff too high’, ‘Cliff. Grass and Dark Colour and Loam’, ‘Keep these houses less’, ‘[... ] Beach’, ‘White [...]’, ‘Dover, Folkestone, Lulworth, St. Mawes, Black Gang’, ‘Folkestone’ in margins, clockwise
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Sand’, ‘Sun’, and numerals ‘1’ to ‘21’ across the upper register in main body of drawing
Inscribed by Turner in ink ‘Pier head’ in main body of drawing, towards top left
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This pencil drawing may relate to the finished watercolour Fishing Boats on Folkestone Beach (National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin) according to Ian Warrell.1 Both Eric Shanes and Warrell find this finished design to be associated with the Ports of England series rather than the Picturesque Views of England and Wales which curator Barbara Dawson has traditionally associated it with.2 If this pencil drawing is connected with the Ports series then it may relate to the previous colour sketch of Folkestone (Tate D17760; Turner Bequest CCIII C).
The drawing is very finely wrought in fine pencil and pen and ink. This form of handling and the fact that the sheet has been annotated indicates that it was intended for engraving, the notes functioning as aids or instructions for the engraver. The architectural details of the medieval Church of St Mary and St Eanswythe atop the headland are clearly delineated, as are those of the surrounding harbour buildings. Turner has inscribed the numbers ‘1’ to ‘21’ on the upper register of the sheet which may relate to the process of translating the design to the metal plate.
There is a rough pencil sketch on the back (D41475), which may be a street plan or map.

Alice Rylance-Watson
March 2013

Revised by Matthew Imms
November 2020

1
Warrell 1997, pp.169, 211, note 27.
2
Ibid; Eric Shanes, Turner’s England 1810 – 38, London 1990, p.146, no.116 (colour); Dawson 1988, pp.82–4.

How to cite

Alice Rylance-Watson, ‘Folkestone c.1822–3’, catalogue entry, March 2013, revised by Matthew Imms, November 2020, 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/folkestone-r1148218, accessed 10 September 2026.