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

Here Turner has divided the page to produce six small views. At top left is a prospect of a large town dominated by what appears to be a church with an elaborate Baroque roof. To the right of that building is a tower with sharply pointed turrets; this may be the Belfry at the Grote Markt in Nieuwpoort (see Tate D19904; Turner Bequest CCXVI 176a). At top right, and continuing in a clockwise direction, are coastal views with windmills, a tower, and a variety of shipping. The locations of all the views is difficult to determine exactly, but it appears that Turner is studying parts of the North Sea coast.