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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Second Italian Tour 1828-9 > Marseilles to Genoa Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Three Views of the Estérel Coastline, from the Sea 1828

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Three Views of the Estérel Coastline, from the Sea’ 1828
Folio 1 Verso:
Three Views of the Estérel Coastline, from the Sea 1828
D21134
Turner Bequest CCXXXI 1a
Pencil on white wove paper, 113 x 174 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘Red’ centre left, within sketch
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner appears to have travelled between Marseille and Nice by boat for part of the journey. This page, used horizontally, contains three sketches recording the changing profile of the passing coastline with its craggy mountainous peaks, as seen from the sea. The specific locations remain unidentified, although the artist’s inscription ‘Red’ suggests that he was probably looking at the volcanic cliffs and hills of the Massif de l’Estérel between Fréjus and Cannes. High levels of porphyry in the rock and soil cause the hills to look red.
Similar views, near Cannes and Antibes, can be found on folio 2 recto opposite (D21135).

Nicola Moorby
March 2017

Revised by Hannah Kaspar
November 2024

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Three Views of the Estérel Coastline, from the Sea 1828’, catalogue entry, March 2017, revised by Hannah Kaspar, November 2024, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, February 2025, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/three-views-of-the-esterel-coastline-from-the-sea-r1209812, accessed 15 April 2025.