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

In a continuation of an endeavour begun three pages previously, here Turner describes coastal views copied from an illustrated maritime text, The Little Sea Torch. Written by Richard Bougard, it was translated from the French by J.T. Serres and published in London in 1801.1 For more detailed information about the book, and an interrogation of Turner’s use of it, see the sketchbook Introduction. For a list of pages additional to the one presently under scrutiny which demonstrate Turner’s interest in transcribing illustrations from Bougard’s text, see the entry for folio 55 recto (D17296).

At the top of the page, which Turner orients vertically in this instance, a simple outline of a headland features a small, pointed island darkly shaded towards the left, and some light hatching across the peninsula on the right. This sketch describes the Great Mewstone, which sits about half a mile out from Wembury Point in south Devon.2 The drawing directly copies engraving 4 on plate 5 of The Little Sea Torch, which is captioned: ‘Mew Stone, N.bE. 4 or 5 Miles distant’.3

Beneath this is a second sketch of the Mewstone, once again emulating an engraving on plate 5 of The Little Sea Torch, which is numbered ‘10’, and captioned with the description ‘Mew Stone from the Buoy of the Knapp’.4

Directly below the drawings of the Mewstone is the first of Turner’s inscriptions on the page, to which Finberg assigned the identification ‘Stoke Point’, a headland in south Devon.5 This refers to the sketch immediately below, which describes two rocky headlands and the receding coastline in the background, again observed from a viewpoint on the water. The corresponding engraving in The Little Sea Torch is also on plate 5, is numbered 12, and described as ‘Stoke Point W.N.W’.6

Across the centre of the page is a somewhat more detailed drawing. Finberg identifies the inscription below as ‘Burr Island’, in reference to Burgh Island, a tidal island on the south coast of Devon.7 Turner describes the island as it appears in the seventh engraving on plate 5 of The Little Sea Torch.8 This illustration is titled in the original as ‘Burr Island. E.b.S.½S’.9 Atop its highest point the ruins of Burgh’s chapel are visible. Possibly left over from a monastery at the site, the chapel became a ‘huers hut’; a place where a watchman could look out for shoals of pilchards and then give the signal to waiting local fishermen by crying out.10 Turner’s drawing and its inscription are separated off from the sketches below by a fine, horizontal line.

Another inscription follows; ‘Bolt Hd. ESE’.11 Bolt Head is in Salcombe, Devon, close to the mouth of the Kingsbridge Estuary. ‘ESE’ refers to the compass point east-southeast, halfway between due east and southeast, or 112°30’ east of due north. This viewpoint is copied from the third engraving on plate 6 of The Little Sea Torch.12 The illustration is titled, ‘Bolt Head. E.S.E. 2 or 3 Leagues’.13 Turner copies additional views of this Devon headland on folio 57 recto (D17300) and folio 80 verso (D17344) of the present sketchbook.

The last drawing on this page is preceded by an inscription towards the right, ‘Tail NNW 4 or 5’. The inscription and sketch refer to Bolt Tail, another Devonshire headland to the southwest of Hope Cove.14 This Turner describes visually in the drawing below, to which he takes a loose approach with his pencil, conjuring up a sense of softly sloping hills and valleys shaping the character of the coastline. ‘NNW’ refers to the compass point north-northwest, halfway between due north and northwest, or 22°30’ west of due north. This viewpoint is a version of engraving 15 on plate 6 of The Little Sea Torch, ‘Bolt Tail. N.N.W.½N. 4 or 5 Miles’.15

In 1813 the artist had enjoyed a short but eventful voyage from Plymouth, via the Mewstone and Stoke Point to Burgh Island, within sight of Bolt Tail; see the detailed account under Tate D09476 (Turner Bequest CXXXI 186a) in the Plymouth, Hamoaze sketchbook, in the ‘West Country 1813’ section of this catalogue.

Technical notes:

At the very bottom of the page, close to the gutter, inscriptions and a drawing made on the facing page, folio 57 recto (D17300), have made reversed imprints and marks on the paper here. Furthermore, a very small piece of the page appears to be missing from the top edge, towards the top right hand corner.