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

Travelling around the south coast at Folkestone, Turner has here outlined the sweep of Folkestone harbour, with the Church of St Mary and St Eanswythe, seen also on the recto (D35287), towering above. Turner was familiar with this topography, having sketched it over many years, for example in the Folkestone sketchbook of around 1821–2 (Tate D17253, D17347; Turner Bequest CXCVIII 28 and 82) and the 1825 Holland sketchbook (see the detailed discussion under Tate D18855; Turner Bequest CCXIV 8). The tower seems to be faintly indicated beyond the harbour in one of the loosely painted watercolour studies in the 1845 Ideas of Folkestone sketchbook, where the church is also seen more clearly from the other direction (Tate D35369–D35370; Turner Bequest CCCLVI 9, 10).

The sketch in the uppermost part of the age appears to show the church square-on; it is possible that Turner was travelling in a boat as he made these sketches, with his vantage point changing constantly.