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 The Caskets, Alderney; Rocky Cliffs ?1832

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Caskets, Alderney; Rocky Cliffs’ ?1832
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 90 Recto:
The Caskets, Alderney; Rocky Cliffs ?1832
D23693
Turner Bequest CCLII 90
Pencil on white wove paper, 187 x 114 mm
Partial watermark ‘J. JELL | 18’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Caskets’ towards top left, ‘A[?ldar] | AW’ towards top right, ‘?Black R[...]y’
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘90’ top right running vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCLII – 90’ top right running vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the sketchbook turned vertically, Turner drew scenes of jagged cliffs and distant reefs onto this page. A note by the artist towards the top left-hand corner identifies the off-shore rocks depicted just below as the treacherous reef near Alderney known as The Caskets. 1 This geological phenomenon recurs on several pages, including on folios 91 verso (D23696; Turner Bequest CCLII 91a) and 92 recto (D23697; Turner Bequest CCLII 92).
The high cliffs with pinnacles of rock running down to the sea are characteristic of the Alderney coast although they are also a feature of Sark Island, which was the subject of extensive study in this sketchbook.

John Chu
April 2014

1
J.T. Cochrane, A Guide to the Island of Guernsey, St Peter Port 1826, p.138.

How to cite

John Chu, ‘The Caskets, Alderney; Rocky Cliffs ?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-the-caskets-alderney-rocky-cliffs-r1175185, accessed 25 April 2024.