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

Here, divided across the page with a faint horizontal line, are two sketches of hills or cliffs. Although there is no water, Turner’s inscription, ‘sand’ would suggest a coastal setting, and both sketches have the craggy, rocky character of many of Turner’s coastal sketches in the Bass Rock and Edinburgh sketchbook (e.g. Tate D13331; Turner Bequest CLXV 6), although the presence of a clump of trees and vegetation on the upper sketch indicate perhaps a more sheltered spot. Another possibility is the beach at North Shields, which is drawn on folio 14 of this sketchbook (D13475).