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

The page was used both ways for two different subjects. Turned vertically, the upper (outer) half comprises three characteristically deft studies of ships under sail. Above, two large warships (or perhaps the same twice) are seen from off the port bows; Below, the port side of a smaller vessel’s hull is shown from a little aft, with only the sails above the figurehead loosely indicated. See also folio 5 verso (D19410).

The sketch on the inner half is part of a wider horizontal view of Dover, continued to the right across the whole of folio 2 recto opposite (D19403), where the castle appears to the north-east beyond the old south pier in the foreground. On the present page, the Drop Redoubt is on the skyline to the north-north-west of harbourside buildings; little remains in the immediate vicinity from Turner’s time. Compare a two-part, single-page view in the contemporary Holland sketchbook (Tate D19362; Turner Bequest CCXIV 263). For other Dover views in this sketchbook and elsewhere, see under folio 1 recto (D19401).