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

The five or more sketches on this page depict jagged rocks and coastal views with defensive structures. An inscription perhaps reading ‘Plymaston’ appears towards the left-hand side of the page although this location, in fact a now-defunct Pembrokeshire settlement, is probably a red herring in an attempt to identify these scenes. Rather, the two drawings of sharp-angled cliffs to the right of the page, each inverted in relation to the other, resemble the coastal terrain of Sark Island which was the subject of extensive study in this sketchbook. The sketch of a seaside fortress at the bottom of the page, inverted in relation to the larger scenes in the upper register, may represent Fort Grey, the ‘Martello’ tower which defended the west coast of Guernsey during the Napoleonic Wars.1 For comparisons, see the drawings of Rocquaine Bay listed under the entry for folio 77 verso (D23668; Turner Bequest CCLII 77a).