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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Northern France 1832 > Guernsey Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Castle Cornet, Guernsey ?1832

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Castle Cornet, Guernsey’ ?1832
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 29 Verso:
Castle Cornet, Guernsey ?1832
D23575
Turner Bequest CCLII 29a
Pencil on white wove paper, 114 x 187 mm
Partial watermark ‘J. JELL | 18’
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The top half of this page is occupied by a description of Castle Cornet on the east coast of Guernsey. The medieval fortress guards the town of St Peter Port from a small island in the harbour.1 This picturesque landmark is the subject of particular study in the sketchbook, recurring on multiple pages; see folios 1 verso (D23526; Turner Bequest CCLII 1a); 47 verso (D23608; Turner Bequest CCLII 47a); 52 verso (D23618; Turner Bequest CCLII 52a); 54 verso (D23622; Turner Bequest CCLII 54a); 75 recto to 76 recto (D23663–D23665; Turner Bequest CCLII 75–CCLII 76); 82 verso (D23678; Turner Bequest CCLII 82a); 83 recto (D23679; Turner Bequest CCLII 83); 87 recto (D23687; Turner Bequest 87); 87 verso (D23688; Turner Bequest CCLII 87a).
Beneath the castle is a sketch of a hill, the brow of which is punctured by architectural structures. This may depict Fort George, on the southern edge of St Peter Port, begun in the late eighteenth century to supplement and update the town’s defences.2

John Chu
April 2014

1
See Bryan Hugh St. John O’Neil, The History of Castle Cornet, Guernsey, Guernsey 1981.
2
J.T. Cochrane, A Guide to the Island of Guernsey, St Peter Port 1826, pp.66–7.

How to cite

John Chu, ‘Castle Cornet, Guernsey ?1832 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 2014, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, April 2015, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-castle-cornet-guernsey-r1175067, accessed 29 December 2024.