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

The viewpoint is a crag high above a river valley, with what seems to be an overshot mill in the distance. Small, dark marks towards the right appear to indicate cattle or other animals beside the river. The scene remains unidentified but is presumably in County Durham or Northumberland, recorded elsewhere in this sketchbook, or possibly on the way to or near Farnley Hall, Walter Fawkes’s home in North Yorkshire, where Turner came to rest at the end of his travels (see the introduction to the tour). The drawing on folios 15 recto–14 verso (D40764, D12311; Turner Bequest CLVI 20 ‘verso’–29) shows similar country and was perhaps made nearby.

The pencil number ‘30’ may obscure or reinforce John Ruskin’s customary red ink foliation, which is evident only faintly and intermittently in this much-rearranged book (see the introduction to the sketchbook).

Technical notes:

There is a trace of watercolour along the top of the left-hand edge, presumably an accidental transfer from the corresponding corner of the watercolour sketch on folio 2 recto (D12263), and a small reddish-brown spot near the centre of the top edge, which may have occurred at the same time.