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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > West Country 1811 > Corfe to Dartmouth Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Poole Harbour from East Hill, Corfe 1811

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Poole Harbour from East Hill, Corfe’ 1811
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 10 Recto:
Poole Harbour from East Hill, Corfe 1811
D08817
Turner Bequest CXXIV 10
Pencil on white wove paper, 170 x 209 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Poole’ bottom right
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom centre
Stamped in black ‘CXXIV – 10’ top left, upside down
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The view is over the heathland north of the Purbeck Hills, across Poole Harbour towards Poole beyond the western tip of Brownsea Island in the centre, with the coast (now dominated by Bournemouth) stretching away to the north-east on the right. Turner’s vantage point is East Hill, just east of Corfe Castle, for which see under folio 17 recto (D08826). He may have followed the high chalk ridge as he sketched around the village or as he travelled on to his next destination, Swanage, recorded on folio 11 recto (D08818) and subsequently.
This drawing has been mentioned in relation to Turner’s watercolour design of Poole for the Picturesque Views on the Southern Coast1 (see the 1811 tour introduction). However, the viewpoint is diametrically opposite to the sketches of the estuary he made in the Devonshire Coast, No.1 sketchbook, as he journeyed towards Corfe Castle from the north-east (Tate D08387, D08391; Turner Bequest CXXIII 14, 16), and CXXIII 14 alone forms the basis of the watercolour.
1
Shanes 1981, p.152; followed by Hanley 1992, p.20; see also English Watercolours and Drawings: Agnew’s 117th Annual Exhibition, exhibition catalogue, Thos Agnew & Sons, London 1990, p.37 under no.46; and [Evelyn Joll], Watercolours by J.M.W. Turner R.A. (1775 – 1851), exhibition catalogue, Thos Agnew & Sons, London 1994, p.14 under no.5.
Verso:
Blank; a tear has been repaired at the bottom right.

Matthew Imms
February 2011

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Poole Harbour from East Hill, Corfe 1811 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, February 2011, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-poole-harbour-from-east-hill-corfe-r1137300, accessed 22 November 2024.