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

With the page turned horizontally, Dover is in the middle distance to the north-east, as Finberg recognised,1 seen from the top of Shakespeare Cliff. This is a variant of the sketch on the recto (D19368), where the edge of the cliff itself is shown in the foreground. Here, the focus is on the lower range above Shakespeare Beach leading to the piers at Dover Harbour, with the keep of the castle towards the top left about two miles away. Beyond, the undulating cliffs towards the South Foreland are drawn in some detail, rather than as the cursory profile shown on the other page.

The present sketch likely informed 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); as discussed under the recto, the foreground introduced there shows the defences of the Western Heights, nearer the town; see also folio 267 recto opposite (D19370) for other aspects of the vicinity.

This is among nearly forty consecutive pages towards the end of this sketchbook devoted to aspects of Dover and its castle (folios 253 verso–272 verso; D19343–D19381). For Turner’s many other views there in this sketchbook and elsewhere, see under folio 2 recto (D18843); the book includes views back to Shakespeare Cliff from the harbour, such as those on folio 267 verso (D19371).