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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Northern France 1832 > Guernsey Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner La Coupée, Sark; Channel Islands ?1832

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘La Coupée, Sark; Channel Islands’ ?1832
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 57 Recto:
La Coupée, Sark; Channel Islands ?1832
D23627
Turner Bequest CCLII 57
Pencil on white wove paper, 187 x 114 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘G’, ‘J’, ‘H’, ‘Sark’ centre
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘57’ top right running vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCLII – 57’ top right running vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the sketchbook turned vertically, Turner filled this page with small views of coastal terrain in and around Sark Island. The sketch on the bottom half of the page records the point at which Little Sark is joined to the main island by an extremely high and narrow isthmus called La Coupée.1 Its steep winding path is described by a single line meandering towards the bottom left-hand corner. This geological feature frequently recurs in the sketchbook; for a full listing of these drawings, see folio 56 recto (D23625; Turner Bequest CCLII 56). The sketch of distant landforms under a low sun, second from the top, is marked with the initials for the neighbouring islands of Guernsey, Jethou, and Herm.

John Chu
April 2014

1
J.T. Cochrane, A Guide to the Island of Guernsey, St Peter Port 1826, p.141.

How to cite

John Chu, ‘La Coupée, Sark; Channel Islands ?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-la-coupee-sark-channel-islands-r1175119, accessed 25 April 2024.