Drawn with the sketchbook inverted. This very slight outline of the island on the horizon is taken from St Bees, which Turner visited in 1809. ‘White’ is presumably a reference to Whitehaven north of St Bees.
Turner’s inscription in ink reads:
Anaxagorus, A,,gar,tha,,chus | the sun 95 millions of miles distant | The Earth equal to 18 seconds of a degree | the 1200 seconds | the Moon nearly the apparent size of E.
For Anaxagoras and Agatharcus see the
Greenwich and
Perspective sketchbooks (Tate
D06728; Turner Bequest CII 4a and Tate
D07423; Turner Bequest CVIII 41). However, Turner may intend to refer to Aristarchus (circa 310–230BC) who concluded that the sun is larger than the earth.
David Blayney Brown
July 2009