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 > Roman and French Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Brighton Seafront, with Boats and Warehouses c.1828

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Brighton Seafront, with Boats and Warehouses’ c.1828
Folio 4 Recto:
The Brighton Seafront, with Boats and Warehouses c.1828
D21858
Turner Bequest CCXXXVII 4
Pencil on white wove paper, 71 x 88 mm
Inscribed in red ink ‘4’ top left, upside down
Stamped in black ‘CCXXXVII – 4’ top left, upside down
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Ian Warrell has identified this work as one of several coastal views of Brighton; it therefore has no relation to Turner’s 1828–9 tour of France and Italy.1 The page contains two variant perspectives of the seafront at Brighton, both of which are inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation. Both views feature moored boats in the foreground and buildings elevated upon arched structures, presumably warehouses. The lower view extends onto folio 3 verso opposite (D21857).
Precisely when Turner visited Brighton before embarking on his Italian tour remains unclear. See folios 3 verso–5 verso and 61 recto–62 recto (D21857–D21860, D21961–D21963) for views in this sketchbook identified as of the town.

Hannah Kaspar
December 2024

1
Warrell 1997, p.212.

How to cite

Hannah Kaspar, ‘The Brighton Seafront, with Boats and Warehouses c.1828’, catalogue entry, December 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/the-brighton-seafront-with-boats-and-warehouses-r1210416, accessed 15 April 2025.