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

The drawing is inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation. In the top half, shipping is seen in the Solent at the mouth of the River Medina, with both Norris Castle (at the centre; see under folio 40 recto; D20658; Turner Bequest CCXXVI 38) and East Cowes Castle (at the right; see under see under folio 1 verso; D20597) on the skyline of the East Cowes headland to the south-east. Immediately below is a continuation of the prospect to the right from the same viewpoint, along the opposite bank to the south-east, where Cowes is seen on the shore; this section extends briefly onto folio 21 verso opposite (D20629; Turner Bequest CCXXVI 20a). Compare the view on folio 42 verso (D20662; Turner Bequest CCXXVI 40a).

Inverted below this two-part prospect is a view of a distant tower on a low coastline, which may be Calshot Castle on the mainland, as in one of the sketches on the opposite page (D20629). For more on studies in this sketchbook relating to the regatta events at Cowes from late July 1827 onwards, see the Introduction.