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 St Peter Port, Guernsey ?1832

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘St Peter Port, Guernsey’ ?1832
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 88 Recto:
St Peter Port, Guernsey ?1832
D23689
Turner Bequest CCLII 88
Pencil on white wove paper, 114 x 187 mm
Partial watermark ‘YMAN | 28’
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘88’ top left, inverted
Stamped in black ‘CCLII – 88’ top left, inverted
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Inverted in relation to the sketchbook as foliated, an apparently continuous panoramic view of St Peter Port on the east coast of Guernsey fills the top register of this page. Towards the left-hand side can be seen the medieval fortress of Castle Cornet guarding the port from its island in the harbour bay while the town rises up the surrounding hills a little to the right.1 A smaller sketch immediately below this view depicts coastal uplands, possibly detailing some aspect of the scene above. With the sketchbook turned vertically, Turner recorded a third coastal view on the left-hand side of the page intersecting the other two sketches. Scribbled lines in the bottom left-hand corner may represent dark trees framing the scene. For the recurrence of these subjects in the sketchbook, see the entries for folio 29 verso (D23575; Turner Bequest CCLII 29a) for Castle Cornet, and folio 30 recto (D23576; Turner Bequest CCLL 30) for St Peter Port.
1
See Bryan Hugh St. John O’Neil, The History of Castle Cornet, Guernsey, Guernsey 1981.
Technical notes:
There is some light brown discolouration towards the top left-hand corner.

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-r1175181, accessed 09 May 2024.