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

This page comprises scenes of coastal terrain located at quite different points in the English Channel. The upper view, which continues over onto folio 28 verso opposite (D23573; Turner Bequest CCLII 28a) depicts St Sampson Harbour on the east coast of Guernsey, as identified by Turner’s note towards the right-hand side of the page. One of the island’s distinctive eighteenth-century ‘loophole’ towers can be seen perched on an eminence over the bay towards the left-hand side of the page.1 The sketches of St Sampson Harbour in this volume are listed under the entry for folio 51 verso (D23616; Turner Bequest CCLII 51a).

The bottom half of the page is filled with multiple descriptions of Netley Castle, Hampshire which also features on folio 10 verso (D23540; Turner Bequest CCLII 10a).2 This Tudor fortress, seen here without its subsequent nineteenth-century additions, is located about five miles south-east down the coast from Southampton, which offered a regular ferry service to Guernsey by steam packet.3