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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner ?St Peter Port, Guernsey ?1832

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 55 Recto:
?St Peter Port, Guernsey ?1832
D23623
Turner Bequest CCLII 55
Pencil on white wove paper, 114 x 187 mm
Partial watermark ‘J. JELL | 18’
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘55’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCLII – 55’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The kind of hilly coastal terrain featured in the cursory drawings on this page abounds on the Channel Islands and in the wide embouchure of the Seine, both the subject of considerable study in this sketchbook. However, the sketch in the top left-hand corner of the page appears to continue over from folio 54 verso opposite (D23622; Turner Bequest CCLII 54a). This would identify this scene as St Peter Port on the east coast of Guernsey, and the Gothic tower with corner pinnacles as Elizabeth College. The buildings of St Peter Port recur several times within in this volume, as outlined in the entry for folio 30 recto (D23576; Turner Bequest CCLII 30).

John Chu
April 2014

How to cite

John Chu, ‘?St Peter Port, Guernsey ?1832 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 2014, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, April 2015, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-st-peter-port-guernsey-r1175115, accessed 19 September 2024.