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

This rapid horizontal sketch is slight, but clear enough to suggest the familiar scene of Dover Castle high on the renowned white cliffs above the harbour, approached from the west with a jumble of masts and sails in the foreground. As discussed in the sketchbook’s Introduction, this is one of a handful of drawings on adjacent pages which were likely made on the coast of Kent after crossing from Ostend, which is seen in a long sequence of coastal sketches, encompassing a handful of exceptions such as this one, using up the last leaves at the end of the long Continental tour; see under folio 1 recto (D30460).1 Folio 13 verso opposite (D30482; CCCIII 12a) may show a quayside scene at Dover, while the recto of that page (D30481; CCCIII 12) and folio 12 verso (D30480; CCCIII 11a) appear to include nearer views of the castle.

Compare the composition of the Ports of England watercolour of about 1825 (Tate D18154; Turner Bequest CCVIII U);2 Alice Rylance-Watson’s entry includes an extensive survey of Turner’s Dover sketches. It is one of a number of designs from similar viewpoints, as discussed in the present author’s entry for a colour sketch of about 1824 (Tate D25392; Turner Bequest CCLXIII 269), related to the concurrent Southern Coast project.