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

Ian Warrell has identified this work as one of several in this sketchbook depicting the coast at Shoreham in Sussex; it therefore has no relation to Turner’s 1828–9 tour of France and Italy.1 The studies identified by Warrell appear on folios 5 verso, 6 recto and 62 verso–66 verso (D21861, D21862, D21964–D21972). Regarding the timing of the sketches, Warrell debated whether they perhaps recorded a visit just before Turner’s 1828 departure for Italy,2 although he also conceded ‘it is not impossible that the Shoreham sketches [...] could actually date from 1826.’3

The two coastal views on this page were executed with the sketchbook turned in different positions. Across the top of the page, following the sketchbook’s foliation, is a slight outline of Shoreham, with a pier jutting out to the left and buildings to the right. The view of coastal ramparts beneath appears inverted, and includes a heavy zigzagging line, possibly representing a pier, and a tower or lighthouse in the bottom-left corner. Turner’s upside-down inscription to the right indicates the presence of ‘sand’. This view extends onto folio 6 recto opposite (D21862).