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

For once in this sketchbook, Turner used the page vertically for this view looking north-west out to sea from Combe Martin Harbour. The slight strokes at the left seem to indicate the hull and mast of a beached boat. The study is a continuation beyond the similar views of the two views of the harbour on D08949 and D08950 (CXXVI 4, 5), while the same features are seen in laterally condensed form in the distance of the contemporary sketch in the smaller Devonshire Coast, No.1 sketchbook (Tate D08646; Turner Bequest CXXIII 147). It is likely that this page was to the left opposite CXXVI 4 as then bound (see the introduction to the sketchbook) and that, having first made that drawing, Turner quickly shifted the book vertically to extend his record of the coast further out from the harbour.

Technical notes:

There are five sets of stitch holes near the bottom. A small piece missing at the top left corner matches similar losses to adjacent leaves (D08946–D08950, D40294, D40295; CXXVI 1–4, and the recto of the present sheet, CXXVI 5) and to D08964 (CXXVI 18).