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

Turner filled this page with a cursory sketch of a harbour scene. Framed on the left-hand side by a building constructed over a ground floor archway, the view gives way to a collection of substantial buildings which recede into the middle distance. The presence of ships’ masts in the midst of the scene is indicated by long vertical strokes at the centre of the page. As outlined in the Introduction to the sketchbook, Turner recorded views of several substantial ports in the English Channel in this volume, including Le Havre in Normandy, St Peter Port in Guernsey, and Southampton in Hampshire.