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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Folkestone and the Medway c.1821-2 > Folkestone Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner ?The East Cliffs at Folkestone c.1821-2

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘?The East Cliffs at Folkestone’ c.1821-2
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 3 Recto:
?The East Cliffs at Folkestone c.1821–2
D17211
Turner Bequest CXCVIII 3
Pencil on white wove paper, 113 x 187 mm
Partial watermark ‘T Edm | 18’
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘3’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CXCVIII – 3’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Here Turner looks up towards a distant cluster of buildings, recording the craggy cascade of cliffs that they sit upon, which according to Finberg are possibly the East Cliffs of Folkestone.1 The perspective suggests that his viewpoint was either the shoreline or a boat cast off from East Wear bay.
Towards the outside edge of the page are two further sketches of the cliffs composed from greater distance and with the page turned vertically, supporting conjecture that Turner was jotting down his observations from a boat in the Channel. Drawings of this outcrop as the artist moves past it appear to continue on folio 4 verso (D17213). For a comprehensive list of the pages in the current sketchbook which observe scenes at Folkestone, see the entry for folio 17 verso (D17235).
1
Finberg 1909, I, p.604.
Verso:
Blank

Maud Whatley
January 2016

How to cite

Maud Whatley, ‘?The East Cliffs at Folkestone c.1821–2 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, January 2016, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, February 2017, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-the-east-cliffs-at-folkestone-r1184485, accessed 26 April 2024.