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 Island; Jethou and Herm ?1832

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘La Coupée, Sark Island; Jethou and Herm’ ?1832
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 74 Recto:
La Coupée, Sark Island; Jethou and Herm ?1832
D23661
Turner Bequest CCLII 74
Pencil on white wove paper, 187 x 114 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Jethou’ top centre, ‘Herm’ towards top right, ‘S[...]’ towards bottom centre
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘74’ top right running vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCLII – 74’ 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 multiple views of the high, jagged coastal terrain that abounds in the Channel Islands and on Sark in particular. The names of the neighbouring islands of Herm and Jethou are noted between the top two sketches although it is not clear to which land-masses these inscriptions refer. The sketch second from the bottom depicts the point at which Little Sark is joined to the main island by an extremely high and narrow isthmus called La Coupée.1 This geological eminence features frequently in the sketchbook; for a full listing of these drawings, see folio 56 recto (D23625; Turner Bequest CCLII 56).

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 Island; Jethou and Herm ?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-island-jethou-and-herm-r1175153, accessed 26 April 2024.