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

This page is the second in a sequence of five which depict scenes of the coast copied from The Little Sea Torch, an illustrated maritime text by Richard Bougard, translated from the French by J.T. Serres and published in London in 1801.1 For a list of the other pages which evidence Turner’s transcription of these distinctive engravings, see the entry for Folio 55 recto (D17296). For more detailed information about the publication, and an interrogation of Turner’s use of it, see the sketchbook Introduction.

As expressed by Finberg, this page is concerned with ‘views of the English and French coast’.2 Turner demonstrates an interest in a combination of Kentish and more exotic locations, his sketches formulated in the manner of a list, and with the sketchbook turned vertically.

Beginning at the top of the page, the first inscription on the left is ‘C antifer’, which Finberg interprets as ‘Cap d’Antifer’ in Normandy, France.3 Cap d’Antifer borders the English Channel and the distinctive limestone topography characteristic of the French coastal region reinforces this identification. The scene describes a view of sharp, fragmented cliffs, including an isolated shard of rock jutting up out of the sea towards the left. On the far left and in the centre Turner describes naturally-occurring arches in the rock of parallel headlands, which are still a feature of these cliffs today. Along with several of the views on this page, this drawing is taken from plate 12 of The Little Sea Torch.4 Titled ‘Cape Antifer’ in the top left corner, the engraving is number 4 on the plate.5

Beneath this, the second panoramic view is again descriptive of a rugged cliff-side viewed from the water. ‘Cape antonio’ is inscribed across the blank, unelaborated rock face, which again was identified by Finberg.6 Another scene taken from plate 12 of The Little Sea Torch, the original engraving specifies the location as ‘Cape St Antonio, in the Bay of Biscay, W.S.W.’.7

The third drawing down from the top is the only one on this page from which an inscription is absent, but it describes the largest engraving on plate 12 of The Little Sea Torch: ‘Naples’.8 Turner’s sketch softly delineates the port scene, with its small lighthouse towards the centre. The top of the lighthouse overlaps slightly with the drawing above. The 1801 engraving from the book is more expansive, and includes a key across the bottom in order to identify important landmarks. The buildings on the distant side of the harbour are named as the ‘Castello del llovo’, referring to the Norman-built Castel dell’Ovo which is the oldest fortification in Naples.9 To the immediate right of ‘The Light House’ a ‘Fort at the Entrance of the Harbour’ is also identified.10 The ramparts described by Turner on the right of his drawing are labelled ‘Castello Nuovo’ in the engraving, identifying the thirteenth century castle which houses fragments of frescos painted by Giotto.11 Turner had visited the city as recently as 1819; see Nicola Moorby’s Introduction to the ‘First Italian Tour 1819–20’ section of this catalogue.

Towards the centre of the present page is a drawing of two smoking volcanoes and a passing sailing vessel, inscribed on the far right ‘Stromboli’ and copied from engraving ‘8’ on plate 12 of The Little Sea Torch.12 The 1801 illustration is inscribed with the title, ‘Stromboli, with Etna in the distance’.13 The island of Stromboli is in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the northern coast of Sicily, and is the tip of a vast underwater volcano that rises from the seabed 1476 metres below. The volcano has been active for around 2,000 years and its eruptions can be seen during the night at great distances, earning it the nickname ‘Lighthouse of the Mediterranean’.14 Engravings from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries often included a passing ship when describing this smoking phenomenon; perhaps to emphasise scale, or maybe to underline the fragile vulnerability of human lives carried out in the shadow of such unpredictable menace.

Moving down the page further still, Turner has made an inscription on the left, ‘Lizard and NW’, which relates to the cliffs sketched in below. Both of these elements are drawn from plate 13 of The Little Sea Torch, on which this composition features as the first engraving under the title ‘The Lizard, N.bW. 4 Leagues dis^t’.15 The illustration and emulative sketch look in a North-westerly direction, describing Lizard Point in Cornwall and the distinctive towers of the lighthouse in operation there. The Lizard peninsula is the most southerly part of the British mainland and is characterized by extremely hazardous cliffs.16 The original lighthouse was erected in 1619 by Cornish philanthropist Sir John Killigrew, who was granted a patent on the agreement that the light would be extinguished at the approach of enemy vessels and pirates to prevent them from landing safely.17 In an attempt to fund the maintenance of the structure, James I ordered that all passing vessels pay a fee of one halfpenny per tonne. This sparked such an overwhelmingly negative response that the patent was withdrawn and the lighthouse demolished. In 1748 Thomas Fonnereau erected a new lighthouse on the site, which was completed in 1751. It was comprised of two towers with an intervening cottage in between them. From this cottage an overseer could watch both lanterns, and sound a horn if he suspected the bellows-blowers were taking a relaxed attitude in their efforts with the fires.18 The 1801 engraving clearly describes the two towers of this later lighthouse on top of the cliffs at the Lizard, the small cottage indicated by a much lower roof in between them. Turner notes all of this in slightly less detail, using quick strokes of his pencil to record the dimensions of the view as stipulated in the illustrative plate.

A second sketch of the lighthouse and topography at Lizard Point immediately follows beneath the one discussed above, but inscribed ‘NE’ on the far right, indicative of a view which looks towards the north east. The towers and cottage are reduced by Turner to three simple lines in this rendering, and the central headland has been shaded using diagonally hatched lines. This drawing recreates the second engraving on plate 13 of The Little Sea Torch, entitled ‘The Lizard, N.E. dis^t 3 Miles’.19

The penultimate drawing on this page describes the smooth waves of a hilly coastline, and is preceded by an inscription towards the centre which Finberg tentatively identifies as ‘Rame Head’.20 Instead, the view is of Land’s End at the westernmost point of Cornwall,21 the inscription thus a running together of the two words into a single conglomeration; ‘Landsend’. This is Turner’s swift copy of engraving 3 on plate 13 of The Little Sea Torch: ‘Land’s end N.½ W 4 or 5 Leagues dis^t’.22 An engraving of ‘The Rams head, E.S.E. 3 Leagues’ is also included on plate 13, but presents a much less convincing comparison with Turner’s sketch.23

The drawing at the bottom of this page, closest to the gutter, describes another headland taken from plate 13 of The Little Sea Torch; number 14, ‘The Anchor in Mevagezzey Bay’.24 Turner seems to inscribe his copy with the words ‘anchor in Mavigassy Bay’. Finberg interpreted the interlinking word as a conjunctive; ‘anchor or Mavigassy Bay’.25 ‘Mavigassy’ and ‘Mevagezzey’ are misspellings of Mevagissey, a fishing port situated on the Cornish coast.

Technical notes:

At the very bottom of the page, close to the gutter, an inscription from the facing page, folio 56 recto (D17298) has made a reversed imprint on the paper.