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

Dover Castle1 is seen to the north-east; unusually, selective but consistent shading towards the right of some of the towers indicates afternoon light from the left. Compare folio 4 recto (D19407), from slightly further to the left, where morning light from the right is conveyed by more extensive shading across both the fortress complex and the contours of the rugged slopes below. Below is a loosely rendered continuation to the right, showing undulating cliffs receding north-eastwards towards the South Foreland.

The light falls across the castle from the left, as here, in a watercolour (currently untraced)2 engraved in 1826 for the Picturesque Views on the Southern Coast of England as Dover from Shakespeare’s Cliff (Tate impressions: T04424, T05246–T05251, T06000); for the design’s other sources, see under Tate D18843 (Turner Bequest CCXIV 2) in the contemporary Holland sketchbook.

Set within the cliff towards the right are the outward indications of the extensive network of tunnels beneath the castle, with the two lower arches supporting a platform known as the Casemates Balcony, which is accessible to visitors today (a ‘casemate’ being a vaulted or fortified position), as also shown in Tate D19358, D19361 and D19373 in the contemporary Holland sketchbook (Turner Bequest CCXIV 261, 262a, 278a). Compare also Tate D19349 and D19374 (Turner Bequest CCXIV 256a, 269) in the Holland book. For other Dover views in the present sketchbook and elsewhere, see under folio 1 recto (D19401).