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拍品專文
This delicate watercolor is made far more dramatic in W.B. Cooke’s engraving (Shanes, op.cit., 1981, pl. 107), where it looks much more like the work of one of Turner’s early sources, Claude-Joseph Vernet (1714-1789), an impression also given by the later variant painted circa 1827 for Picturesque Views in England and Wales (ill. in Wilton, op.cit., p. 393, no. 804 and in colour, E. Shanes, Turner’s Picturesque Views in England and Wales 1825-1830, London, 1979, no. 63). Both versions are based on the pencil sketch running across pages 18 and 19 in the Ivy Bridge to Penzance sketchbook of 1811 in Tate Britain (TBCXXV, pp. 18a-19; Shanes, op.cit., p. 152). This sketchbook was used on Turner’s visit to Dorset, Devon and Cornwall in July – September 1811, made specifically in connection with the Southern Coast commission.
The present watercolor shows the view across the Fowey estuary with St. Catherine’s Fort on the right and a second fort, Polruan, in the distance on the left: the latter was omitted from the later, circa 1827 watercolor, which includes more storm-tossed boats in the left foreground to reflect the stormy scene.
The present watercolor was painted for the first great topographical publication based solely on Turner’s own illustrations, Picturesque Views of the Southern Coast, with 39 plates issued between 1814 and 1826. Most of the engravings were by the brothers George (1781-1834) and William Bernard Cooke (1778-1855). Turner’s own attempts at a text were rejected in favour of one by William Combe (1742-1823), best known as the author of Dr Syntax. The ambitious program, which was associated with the importance of the British coastline as the first line of defense against Napoleon, is demonstrated by the fact that the scheme was originally intended to extend to most of the English coast. But endless delays, partly resulting from the disputes between Turner and the engravers, led to the original intention of 48 large plates together with 30 vignettes issued over a few years, being abandoned. (For the Southern Coast see L. Herrmann, Turner Prints: The Engraved works of J.M.W. Turner, Oxford, 1990, pp. 76-90.)
Charles Stokes (1785-1853), the first owner of this watercolor, was an important early collector of Turner’s works, as well as being a close friend and his financial advisor from the 1820’s onwards. He formed a particularly rich collection of Turner’s engravings, notably the Liber Studorium of which he compiled the first catalogue. He attended Turner’s funeral on 30 December 1851. (For Stokes see, inter alia, A. Bailey, Standing in the Sun, a life of J.M.W. Turner, London, 1997, pp. 396, 398, 399; J. Hamilton, Turner and the Scientists, London, 1998, pp. 115, 117-8, 126; and L. Herrmann, ‘Stokes, Charles’, in E. Joll, M. Butlin and L. Herrmann, ed., The Oxford Companion to J.M.W. Turner, Oxford, 2001, pp. 309-310.)
Kurt F. Pantzer, the great Indianapolis Turner collector and amateur scholar, in a letter of 5 May 1978, suggests that Charles Stokes’ niece Mrs Cooper, who inherited much of his collection on his death in 1853, ‘apparently took the advice of Thomas Griffith who was Turner’s dealer in the old age of the artist’ on its dispatch. Some of the collection she retained, and some she disposed of through Griffith. Being a minister’s wife, Hannah Cooper set out to exchange certain items in her inheritance for the engravings by the Finden brothers for the Bible. Later she exchanged the Jerusalem engraving for the watercolor of Fowey, receiving a refund of 80 guineas.
A view of Pendennis Castle and the entrance to Falmouth Harbour, a short distance along the coast and from the same series, was sold in these Rooms, 6 July 2010, lot 64.
We are grateful to Martin Butlin for his help in preparing the present catalogue entry.
The present watercolor shows the view across the Fowey estuary with St. Catherine’s Fort on the right and a second fort, Polruan, in the distance on the left: the latter was omitted from the later, circa 1827 watercolor, which includes more storm-tossed boats in the left foreground to reflect the stormy scene.
The present watercolor was painted for the first great topographical publication based solely on Turner’s own illustrations, Picturesque Views of the Southern Coast, with 39 plates issued between 1814 and 1826. Most of the engravings were by the brothers George (1781-1834) and William Bernard Cooke (1778-1855). Turner’s own attempts at a text were rejected in favour of one by William Combe (1742-1823), best known as the author of Dr Syntax. The ambitious program, which was associated with the importance of the British coastline as the first line of defense against Napoleon, is demonstrated by the fact that the scheme was originally intended to extend to most of the English coast. But endless delays, partly resulting from the disputes between Turner and the engravers, led to the original intention of 48 large plates together with 30 vignettes issued over a few years, being abandoned. (For the Southern Coast see L. Herrmann, Turner Prints: The Engraved works of J.M.W. Turner, Oxford, 1990, pp. 76-90.)
Charles Stokes (1785-1853), the first owner of this watercolor, was an important early collector of Turner’s works, as well as being a close friend and his financial advisor from the 1820’s onwards. He formed a particularly rich collection of Turner’s engravings, notably the Liber Studorium of which he compiled the first catalogue. He attended Turner’s funeral on 30 December 1851. (For Stokes see, inter alia, A. Bailey, Standing in the Sun, a life of J.M.W. Turner, London, 1997, pp. 396, 398, 399; J. Hamilton, Turner and the Scientists, London, 1998, pp. 115, 117-8, 126; and L. Herrmann, ‘Stokes, Charles’, in E. Joll, M. Butlin and L. Herrmann, ed., The Oxford Companion to J.M.W. Turner, Oxford, 2001, pp. 309-310.)
Kurt F. Pantzer, the great Indianapolis Turner collector and amateur scholar, in a letter of 5 May 1978, suggests that Charles Stokes’ niece Mrs Cooper, who inherited much of his collection on his death in 1853, ‘apparently took the advice of Thomas Griffith who was Turner’s dealer in the old age of the artist’ on its dispatch. Some of the collection she retained, and some she disposed of through Griffith. Being a minister’s wife, Hannah Cooper set out to exchange certain items in her inheritance for the engravings by the Finden brothers for the Bible. Later she exchanged the Jerusalem engraving for the watercolor of Fowey, receiving a refund of 80 guineas.
A view of Pendennis Castle and the entrance to Falmouth Harbour, a short distance along the coast and from the same series, was sold in these Rooms, 6 July 2010, lot 64.
We are grateful to Martin Butlin for his help in preparing the present catalogue entry.