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 Creux Harbour, Sark Island ?1832

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Creux Harbour, Sark Island’ ?1832
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 67 Recto:
Creux Harbour, Sark Island ?1832
D23647
Turner Bequest CCLII 67
Pencil on white wove paper, 114 x 187 mm
Partial watermark ‘J. JELL | 18’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Rock’ towards bottom left, ‘from the Pier’ centre bottom
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘67’ top left, inverted
Stamped in black ‘CCLII – 67’ top left, inverted
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Inverted in relation to the sketchbook as foliated, the apparently continuous sketch at the top of this page depicts Creux on the south-east coast of Sark where a small summer harbour had been established. In the centre of the scene, Turner reminded himself with a note of the position of the harbour pier. The centre and left-hand side of the page are dominated by the ‘almost perpendicular cliffs which overhang and surround’ this ‘romantic spot’.1 At the base of this large formation, towards the bottom left-hand corner, can be glimpsed the opening of a small tunnel, indicated by a small semi-circular mark which gave access to the island’s higher ground. To the right-hand side is featured the tower-like rocky outcrop which, as outlined in the entry for folio 66 recto (D23645; Turner Bequest CCLII 66), Turner seems to have termed the Sphinx’s Head. This tiny bay constitutes one of the volume’s major preoccupations; for a list of these drawings, see the entry for folio 58 recto (D23629; Turner Bequest CCLII 58).
The smaller sketch of a sail-boat before high cliffs is a continuation of a scene on folio 66 verso opposite (D23646; Turner Bequest CCLII 66a).

John Chu
April 2014

1
J.T. Cochrane, A Guide to the Island of Guernsey, St Peter Port 1826, p.139.

How to cite

John Chu, ‘Creux Harbour, Sark Island ?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-creux-harbour-sark-island-r1175139, accessed 18 September 2024.