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 > Devonshire Coast, No.1 Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Camelford; a River Valley; Boats by an Estuary 1811

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Camelford; a River Valley; Boats by an Estuary’ 1811
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 6 Recto:
Camelford; a River Valley; Boats by an Estuary 1811
D08372
Turner Bequest CXXIII 6
Pencil on white wove writing paper, 75 x 117 mm
Inscribed by Turner ‘Camelford’ towards top left
Inscribed twice by John Ruskin in red ink ‘6’ bottom right and bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CXXIII – 6’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner’s inscription identifying Camelford is at the bottom right of the small view isolated by vertical and horizontal lines in the top-left corner, encroached upon by the mast of one of the boats in the larger estuary view below. Another small view, of a sailing boat in a river valley, is at the top right.
The slight view of Camelford may be from the main road north-east of the town, looking south to the centre. On the fringes of Bodmin Moor, it is a few miles inland from Tintagel, recorded extensively in the contemporary Cornwall and Devon sketchbook (see under Tate D41284; Turner Bequest CXXV a 90) and Boscastle (see folio 185 recto; D08705; CXXIII 182), and would have been on Turner’s route north-east through Cornwall.

Matthew Imms
June 2011

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Camelford; a River Valley; Boats by an Estuary 1811 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, June 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-camelford-a-river-valley-boats-by-an-estuary-r1136848, accessed 17 July 2024.