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 > Somerset and North Devon Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Lynton from near Countisbury 1811

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Lynton from near Countisbury’ 1811
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Lynton from near Countisbury 1811
D08960
Turner Bequest CXXVI 14
Pencil on white wove paper, 200 x 324 mm
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom centre
Stamped in black ‘CXXVI 14’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Below Wind Hill on the high, twisting coastal road to Countisbury, Turner looks west to the upper part of Lynton on Hollerday Hill, beyond the estuary of the East and West Lyn Rivers obscured by the steep hills in the foreground. They also hide Lynmouth, on the near side of the estuary, apart from one or two buildings beside the beach. Lundy Island is lightly indicated in the distance on the right. There is a view from further east on D08959 (Turner Bequest CXXVII 13). For other views of Lynton and Lynmouth, see under D08948 (CXXVI 3).
Technical notes:
There are five sets of stitch holes near the left-hand edge.
Verso:
Blank. The cluster of faint, dark marks at the top left appears to be a cat’s paw print. There are similar marks on D08959 (Turner Bequest CXXVI 13). Such prints are occasionally found on Bequest drawings, apparently left by the Manx cats which wandered in Turner’s studio in later years.1

Matthew Imms
January 2011

1
See James Hamilton, Turner: A Life, London 1997, p.304.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Lynton from near Countisbury 1811 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, January 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-lynton-from-near-countisbury-r1137557, accessed 21 November 2024.