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

The drawing has been produced with the page turned horizontally. This is a sketch of a town view, possibly related to the less developed sketch on folio 11 verso opposite (D35355). It may depict a single panorama or separate views of various sections of a town. At the left of the composition Turner has drawn the beginnings of a steepled church, foregrounded by loosely sketched trees. Beside it is a brief outline of what appears to be neo-classical building, complete with portico and columns, perhaps a civic building or private house. A possible bridge over a river or canal may complete this composition or lead the eye to the remaining sections of the drawing. The centre is taken up with summary sketches of figures: a line of figures below and above them what appears to be a pedestalled statue of a crowned and seated figure, a monarch perhaps. The sketch continues to the right with a rough rendering of tree forms or buildings ending with a columnar structure, possibly the same one seen on the opposite page. With this in mind, this drawing and the one on the opposite page may depict the town of Hythe (see the sketchbook introduction).