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

Orientated in accordance with the foliation, the horizontal pencil markings across the top are a continuation of a rough sketch of a headland found on folio 10 verso opposite (D35353). With the page turned horizontally, a faint chalk drawing of a sunset is visible towards the centre right. Above the sun and extending to the left of the page are fine streaks of chalk suggesting delicate cirrus clouds. A miniature sketch in pencil and chalk at the top right of the page (separated by a curved pencil border) also seems to depict the very basic forms of a sunset. It may be that this sketch is successive to the principal chalk drawing on this page, depicting a different phase in the progression of the sunset. Compare Turner’s page of sketches in his King’s Visit to Edinburgh sketchbook (Tate D17512; Turner Bequest CC 3) where he recorded the progression of the rising sun on a horizon.