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 ?South Foreland Lighthouse c.1821-2

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘?South Foreland Lighthouse’ c.1821-2
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 15 Recto:
?South Foreland Lighthouse c.1821–2
D17231
Turner Bequest CXCVIII 15
Pencil on white wove paper, 187 x 113 mm
Stamped in black ‘CXCVIII – 15’ top right, ascending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Rapidly composed, summary pencil lines fill the topmost third of this vertically oriented page in a gestural rendering of cliffs observed from inland. At the summit of a gentle slope sits a lighthouse on the far left. The structure seems to be the upper lighthouse at South Foreland, near Dover in Kent. Possibly the lower lighthouse is also indicated by a small section of a building peeping over the horizon towards the centre. Turner studies the upper tower and adjacent buildings several times throughout the sketchbook. For a list of these instances, and further discussion concerned with the identification of the lighthouse, see the entry for folio 8 recto (D17220).
Technical notes:
The top right corner of the page has suffered some very light staining, possibly caused by being saturated with water.
Verso:
Blank

Maud Whatley
January 2016

How to cite

Maud Whatley, ‘?South Foreland Lighthouse 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-south-foreland-lighthouse-r1184505, accessed 26 April 2024.