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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Farnley Hall and Yorkshire c.1808-24 > Scarborough 1 Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner The South Bay, Scarborough, Looking South-West from near the Harbour, Low Tide c.1816-18

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The South Bay, Scarborough, Looking South-West from near the Harbour, Low Tide’ c.1816-18
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 13 Recto:
The South Bay, Scarborough, Looking South-West from near the Harbour, Low Tide c.1816–18
D11944
Turner Bequest CL 25
Pencil on white wove paper, 117 x 180 mm
Watermarked ‘R BAR[NARD | 18[12]’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil with colour notes relating to the waves; ‘White waves/ Green refln [?]’ to the left, ‘all reflected’ on the sand, right of centre, and ‘Windy sky’ in sky. Also inscribed by Turner with a pencil ‘x’ above the second house from the left on the clifftop
Inscribed by an unknown hand in red ink ‘25’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CL 25’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This sketch records the view from the south jetty of Scarborough Harbour looking across the south bay. The reflections in the wet sands suggest an ebbing tide. In the upper left distance can be seen Oliver’s Mount, and on the shore below, the original Spa building. The skeleton of an old hulk, or ship building, to the right, mirrors one recorded in another sketch in this book (D11948; Turner Bequest CL 29). This is probably the same material as is seen in foggy conditions in D11947; Turner Bequest CL 28. D11926; Turner Bequest CL 10, records the view taken from further back, looking across the harbour, with the same material in the background. More or less the same panorama is continued to the left in D11946; Turner Bequest CL 27.
A diagonal pencil mark towards the right of this leaf may be accidental or spurious.
Verso:
Blank, except for an inscription by ?John Ruskin in red ink bottom left ‘168 Invent’ (see notes to folio 3, D11945; Turner Bequest CL 26).

David Hill
September 2008

How to cite

David Hill, ‘The South Bay, Scarborough, Looking South-West from near the Harbour, Low Tide c.1816–18 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2008, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, September 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-the-south-bay-scarborough-looking-south-west-from-near-the-r1146947, accessed 22 July 2024.