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

Continuing from the facing page on folio 20 verso (D17240) the prospect describes a distant view of Folkestone, apparently recorded from somewhere on the coastal path towards Dover.1 On the present page, horse-drawn carts which occupy the road emerge from the gutter on the extreme left, and two buildings are rendered at some distance from Turner’s spot on the cliff-side. A very faint line indicates the more angular horizon of the town visible across the rolling Kentish countryside in between.

A small drawing of a cottage or local church occupies a space towards the top right corner of the sheet. A distinctive mark, made by a single and direct point of Turner’s pencil on the far right of the roof, identifies this as an elaboration of the right-hand building described in the panoramic drawing below.

This page continues a series of successive drawings between folios 20 verso and 23 recto made along the cliffs between Folkestone and Dover (D17240, D17242, D17244–D17245).