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

Without the aid of an underlying pencil drawing, Turner’s brush-work here creates a brief anecdote of strenuous endeavour in tranquil circumstances. While a wooded plane or sea view unfolds in the distance, a rapidly described carriage ascends a high hill. The coachman’s arm is raised and the horses’ bodies inclined as if to emphasise the strain of the effort. The building with a spire featured in the mid-distance resembles the Collegiate Church at Eu, a landmark much featured in the Eu and Tréport sketchbook from the same trip. See, for example, Tate D35437 (Turner Bequest CCCLIX 2), or Tate D35439 (Turner Bequest CCCLIX 4).

For reasons set out in the Technical notes in the sketchbook Introduction, this work appears inverted in relation to the volume as foliated.

Verso:

Blank; except for small patches of watercolour transferred from folio 17 recto opposite (D35476; CCCLX 18). An upside-down ‘7’ is inscribed in faint red ink at the top left of the page.