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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Yachts in the Solent off Cowes and East Cowes; ?Calshot Castle 1827

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 22 Recto:
Yachts in the Solent off Cowes and East Cowes; ?Calshot Castle 1827
D20630
Turner Bequest CCXXVI 21
Pencil on white wove paper, 112 x 192 mm
Stamped in black ‘CCXXVI – 21’ top left, upside down
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
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.

Matthew Imms
November 2015

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Yachts in the Solent off Cowes and East Cowes; ?Calshot Castle 1827 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, November 2015, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2016, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-yachts-in-the-solent-off-cowes-and-east-cowes-calshot-castle-r1183271, accessed 20 September 2024.