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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > George IV’s visit to Edinburgh 1822 > King's Visit to Edinburgh Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Sketches of Vessels Passing the North Berwick Coast and Nearby Islands 1822

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Sketches of Vessels Passing the North Berwick Coast and Nearby Islands’ 1822
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 8 Recto:
Sketches of Vessels Passing the North Berwick Coast and Nearby Islands 1822
D17522
Turner Bequest CC 8
Pencil on white wove paper, 187 x 114 mm
Inscribed in red ink by John Ruskin ‘8’ (very faint)
Stamped in black ‘CC 8’ bottom right
Blindstamped with the Turner Bequest stamp bottom left
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Continuing from folio 7 verso (D17521), and with the sketchbook turned to the left are sketches of the islands and coastline near north Berwick, as well as several drawings of boats. At the top right of the page is a view of North Berwick Law from the sea to the north-east (Turner was travelling by boat to Edinburgh; see folio 1 verso; D17509), and the conical-shaped hill is depicted again in the sketch below, which also shows Dirleton Castle to its right (see folio 7 verso).
At the top left is a study of a boat in full sail, its foresail square-rigged and its mainsail fore-and-aft rigged and close-hauled to catch the wind from the south. There are two more sailing boats in the sketch below, seen passing Fidra and heading towards the Isle of May. Fidra is depicted again below, and beneath this are May (left), Craigleith (middle) and Fidra (right) once more, with a vessel passing between. The sketch at the bottom of the page shows the islands of Lamb and Craigleith with a faint line for the coast beyond.

Thomas Ardill
August 2008

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Sketches of Vessels Passing the North Berwick Coast and Nearby Islands 1822 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, August 2008, 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-sketches-of-vessels-passing-the-north-berwick-coast-and-r1132863, accessed 21 November 2024.