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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1836-47 Modern painter > Autumn Tour of Northern France 1845 > Dieppe and Kent Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Fishing Village on a Channel Coast 1845

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Fishing Village on a Channel Coast’ 1845
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 8 Verso:
A Fishing Village on a Channel Coast 1845
D35502
Turner Bequest CCCLXI 8a
Pencil on white wove paper, 86 x 111 mm
Partial watermark ‘King | 842’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Dark [?sky]’ centre left
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This view of a village on the coast with cliffs beyond continues on folio 9 recto opposite (D35503). Finberg suggested Folkestone as the subject1 (see folio 5 verso; D35496), although this is unconfirmed; if it were, the tower of St Mary and St Eanswythe’s Church might be expected on the skyline here. There is a storm brewing over the sea, where Turner apparently notes the ‘Dark sky’.
The drawing on the recto (D35501) may show another aspect of the same location. See the sketchbook’s Introduction for the many slight coastal views and inscribed studies of clouds and the sun over the sea scattered through it.
1
See Finberg 1909, II, p.1171.
Technical notes:
There is some brown staining at the gutter, possibly indicating water damage in the 1928 Tate flood.

Matthew Imms
September 2016

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘A Fishing Village on a Channel Coast 1845 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2016, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2016, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-a-fishing-village-on-a-channel-coast-r1183927, accessed 25 April 2024.