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 Views of the Estérel Coast, from the Sea, Including the Cap d'Antibes 1828

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Views of the Estérel Coast, from the Sea, Including the Cap d'Antibes’ 1828
Folio 4 Recto:
Views of the Estérel Coast, from the Sea, Including the Cap d’Antibes 1828
D21139
Turner Bequest CCXXXI 4
Pencil on white wove paper, 113 x 174 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘[?Les Alps]’ and ‘Antibes’ within sketches
Inscribed in red ink ‘4’ top right, ascending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCXXXI 4’ top right, ascending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The two uppermost sketches on this page, turned horizontally, represent parts of the Estérel coastline between Fréjus and Cannes.1 This mountainous region is characterised by the red colour of the volcanic terrain, caused by high levels of porphyry in the rock. Turner travelled along this stretch of coast by boat and made several swift studies of the passing scenery from the sea, see for example folios 1 verso–2 recto (D21134–D21135).
The vistas are too rough to be tied down to a specific location, but the artist has labelled the third sketch on the page, at the bottom, ‘Antibes’, and it clearly depicts the peninsula of the Cap d’Antibes with the Garoupe lighthouse, and the peaks of the Alpes-maritimes in the background.2 For further sketches see folio 4 verso, 5 verso and 6 recto (D21140, D21142, D21143).
1
See Roland Courtot, ‘Les Carnets de William Turner: Recherches d’identification et de localisation des dessins’, unpublished research notes, Université de Provence à Aix, April 2008, p.3, as ‘Antibes’ (shared with former Tate cataloguer Nicola Moorby in email correspondence at that date).
2
Ibid.
Technical notes:
The right-hand part of the top (outer) edge falls slightly short of the trimmed fore edge, and is apparently part of the unfinished edge of the original sheet folded to form the gathering; compare the slight irregularity of folio 3 (D21137–D21138).

Nicola Moorby
March 2017

Revised by Hannah Kaspar
November 2024

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Views of the Estérel Coast, from the Sea, Including the Cap d’Antibes 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/views-of-the-esterel-coast-from-the-sea-including-the-cap-dantibes-r1209817, accessed 15 April 2025.