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Lot Essay
Turner had strong family links (on his father’s side) with the county of Devon, which drew him to the west of England several times during the first half of his career. Between 1811 and 1814 he toured the region during three of the four summers, beginning with his most extensive exploration of the south-western peninsula, undertaken in order to locate useful subjects for a topographical series he was developing with William Bernard Cooke. This would be called Picturesque Views on the Southern Coast of England, and included images by other popular contemporary artists, such as William Havell, Luke Clennell, Peter de Wint, Joshua Cristall, William Collins, and Samuel Prout. But the essence of the project, and its chief appeal, lay in the forty designs by Turner. The small but boldly conceived watercolours were sold to Cooke. He and his brother George then engraved the images onto copper plates (under Turner’s exacting supervision), publishing them serially in sixteen parts between January 1814 and (after various delays to the schedule) May 1826.
By the time Turner went back to Devon for a six-week tour in August 1813, the early parts of the Southern Coast were steadily advancing. News of the project no doubt lent an additional topicality to his evident celebrity among the artistic circle that feted him while he stayed in Plymouth. The historic port was the principal focus of his travels that year, and he surveyed it thoroughly by staying with successive hosts around its locality (E. Shanes, Young Turner. The First Forty Years, 1775-1815, London, 2016, p.425). Curious about his processes, the local artist Ambrose Johns (1776-1858) induced Turner to accept a portable painting box and the challenge of sketching in oils from nature. This proved to be an exciting departure from his usual reticence about letting others see him at work. Turner later conceded that ‘he had never seen so many natural beauties in so limited an extent of country as he saw in the vicinity of Plymouth. Some of the scenes hardly appeared to belong to this island’ (Shanes, op.cit., p.429).
More typically, Turner covered many pages of a moderately sized pocket book (known as the Plymouth, Hamoaze Sketchbook) with pencil notations that set down the topography surrounding the great anchorage at Plymouth. Further to this, the estuaries of the Plym and Tamar that run through it (see TB CXXXI; catalogued by Matthew Imms on the Tate website). This great natural feature had led to the development of a strategically important port with a long tradition of naval significance. Famously, but probably apocryphally, Sir Francis Drake finished his game of bowls with classic insouciance on the grassy Hoe while watching the approach of the Armada in the Channel. Following that celebrated victory measures to strengthen the port’s defences had included the building of a fort on the heights above the harbour area. This was further consolidated in the mid-seventeenth century once the Citadel, with its great bastions, was constructed in its stead.
The threat in that era had been from the Dutch navy, but by Turner’s time a more urgent concern came from the maritime forces of Napoleon and his allies. Accordingly, the numerous big guns at the fortifications were regularly tested. Inevitably Turner experienced one of these drills on a visit with Cyrus Redding, who recorded its effect: ‘We were standing outside the works on the lines at Plymouth, close under a battery of twenty-four pounders, which opened out three or four feet above our heads. I was startled by the shock, but Turner was unmoved. We were neither prepared for the concussion, but he showed none of the surprise I betrayed, being as unmoved at the sudden noise and involvement in the smoke as if nothing had happened' (C. Redding, 'The late Joseph Mallord William Turner', Fraser's Magazine, XLV, February 1852, p. 156).
Rich experiences of this kind during Turner’s 1813 visit ensured that his impressions of Plymouth remained vivid in succeeding years, inspiring four designs for the Southern Coast series, a total unparalleled by any of the other locations represented (see A Ship against the Mewstone, at the Entrance to Plymouth Sound, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, Wilton 454; Plymouth Dock, from Mount Edgecumbe, Plymouth Art Gallery, Wilton 456; Plymouth with Mount Batten, Victoria and Albert Museum, Wilton 457; and Mount Edgecumbe, Plymouth, currently untraced, Wilton 482). The watercolour in the Victoria and Albert Museum gives the best sense of how the massive bulk of the Citadel dominates the town and harbour, and was a viewpoint the artist returned to for his atmospheric representation of Plymouth in the Ports of England series, where the scene is dominated by a vibrant rainbow (c.1825, Fundaco Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon, Wilton 760).
Even before all of these Southern Coast views of Plymouth had been finished, Turner’s enthusiasm for the environs of the Devonshire port induced him to conceive a separate project with W. B. Cooke that was to be called The Rivers of Devon. While the Southern Coast watercolours generally measure 14 x 22 cm., those for the Rivers project were considerably larger, varying from around 18 x 29 cm. to 28 x 40 cm., indicating that the model and terms for the Rivers had not been clearly defined even before it began to founder in 1816 when only a handful of images had been developed; inevitably two of these depicted settings in the vicinity of Plymouth, including the present work (Wilton 1979, p.350, nos.440-444; see also The Tavy Valley, near Mary Tavy, with Pack Horses, Christie’s, New York, 29 January 2016, lot 105).
Taken from below the Hoe, looking east to the Citadel, this view of Plymouth is based on a couple of pages in the Plymouth, Hamoaze Sketchbook (TB CXXXI 7, 8; Tate D09224, D09225). It is permeated by a sense of commotion and urgency, as figures dart around over the headland, gesturing animatedly. Below the rocky cliffs a piece of wooden flotsam indicates a recent wreck, something that was given greater resonance in W.B. Cooke’s engraved version of the image by the additional silhouette of the ribs of a boat in the shadows below the Citadel. Elsewhere, the somewhat obscured dinghy, making its way through the waves on the right, was given a more significant role in the engraving by the addition of two masts, their strong verticals suggesting the reassurance of pending rescue. The skillful tonal construction of the image further enhances the sense of British fortitude withstanding the menace of dark forces, with the Citadel (and its Union flag) brightly illuminated amid the storm clouds. Turner draws the viewer’s attention steadily deeper into the image through a succession of darkening grey washes across the foreground, using stopping-out and possibly also scratching to introduce the lively and dramatic highlights of the crested and surging waves. Safely in the distance, in the Plym estuary, are the masts and sails of the fleet, protected by the stout tower at Mount Batten.
We are grateful to Ian Warrell for his help in preparing this catalogue entry.
By the time Turner went back to Devon for a six-week tour in August 1813, the early parts of the Southern Coast were steadily advancing. News of the project no doubt lent an additional topicality to his evident celebrity among the artistic circle that feted him while he stayed in Plymouth. The historic port was the principal focus of his travels that year, and he surveyed it thoroughly by staying with successive hosts around its locality (E. Shanes, Young Turner. The First Forty Years, 1775-1815, London, 2016, p.425). Curious about his processes, the local artist Ambrose Johns (1776-1858) induced Turner to accept a portable painting box and the challenge of sketching in oils from nature. This proved to be an exciting departure from his usual reticence about letting others see him at work. Turner later conceded that ‘he had never seen so many natural beauties in so limited an extent of country as he saw in the vicinity of Plymouth. Some of the scenes hardly appeared to belong to this island’ (Shanes, op.cit., p.429).
More typically, Turner covered many pages of a moderately sized pocket book (known as the Plymouth, Hamoaze Sketchbook) with pencil notations that set down the topography surrounding the great anchorage at Plymouth. Further to this, the estuaries of the Plym and Tamar that run through it (see TB CXXXI; catalogued by Matthew Imms on the Tate website). This great natural feature had led to the development of a strategically important port with a long tradition of naval significance. Famously, but probably apocryphally, Sir Francis Drake finished his game of bowls with classic insouciance on the grassy Hoe while watching the approach of the Armada in the Channel. Following that celebrated victory measures to strengthen the port’s defences had included the building of a fort on the heights above the harbour area. This was further consolidated in the mid-seventeenth century once the Citadel, with its great bastions, was constructed in its stead.
The threat in that era had been from the Dutch navy, but by Turner’s time a more urgent concern came from the maritime forces of Napoleon and his allies. Accordingly, the numerous big guns at the fortifications were regularly tested. Inevitably Turner experienced one of these drills on a visit with Cyrus Redding, who recorded its effect: ‘We were standing outside the works on the lines at Plymouth, close under a battery of twenty-four pounders, which opened out three or four feet above our heads. I was startled by the shock, but Turner was unmoved. We were neither prepared for the concussion, but he showed none of the surprise I betrayed, being as unmoved at the sudden noise and involvement in the smoke as if nothing had happened' (C. Redding, 'The late Joseph Mallord William Turner', Fraser's Magazine, XLV, February 1852, p. 156).
Rich experiences of this kind during Turner’s 1813 visit ensured that his impressions of Plymouth remained vivid in succeeding years, inspiring four designs for the Southern Coast series, a total unparalleled by any of the other locations represented (see A Ship against the Mewstone, at the Entrance to Plymouth Sound, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, Wilton 454; Plymouth Dock, from Mount Edgecumbe, Plymouth Art Gallery, Wilton 456; Plymouth with Mount Batten, Victoria and Albert Museum, Wilton 457; and Mount Edgecumbe, Plymouth, currently untraced, Wilton 482). The watercolour in the Victoria and Albert Museum gives the best sense of how the massive bulk of the Citadel dominates the town and harbour, and was a viewpoint the artist returned to for his atmospheric representation of Plymouth in the Ports of England series, where the scene is dominated by a vibrant rainbow (c.1825, Fundaco Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon, Wilton 760).
Even before all of these Southern Coast views of Plymouth had been finished, Turner’s enthusiasm for the environs of the Devonshire port induced him to conceive a separate project with W. B. Cooke that was to be called The Rivers of Devon. While the Southern Coast watercolours generally measure 14 x 22 cm., those for the Rivers project were considerably larger, varying from around 18 x 29 cm. to 28 x 40 cm., indicating that the model and terms for the Rivers had not been clearly defined even before it began to founder in 1816 when only a handful of images had been developed; inevitably two of these depicted settings in the vicinity of Plymouth, including the present work (Wilton 1979, p.350, nos.440-444; see also The Tavy Valley, near Mary Tavy, with Pack Horses, Christie’s, New York, 29 January 2016, lot 105).
Taken from below the Hoe, looking east to the Citadel, this view of Plymouth is based on a couple of pages in the Plymouth, Hamoaze Sketchbook (TB CXXXI 7, 8; Tate D09224, D09225). It is permeated by a sense of commotion and urgency, as figures dart around over the headland, gesturing animatedly. Below the rocky cliffs a piece of wooden flotsam indicates a recent wreck, something that was given greater resonance in W.B. Cooke’s engraved version of the image by the additional silhouette of the ribs of a boat in the shadows below the Citadel. Elsewhere, the somewhat obscured dinghy, making its way through the waves on the right, was given a more significant role in the engraving by the addition of two masts, their strong verticals suggesting the reassurance of pending rescue. The skillful tonal construction of the image further enhances the sense of British fortitude withstanding the menace of dark forces, with the Citadel (and its Union flag) brightly illuminated amid the storm clouds. Turner draws the viewer’s attention steadily deeper into the image through a succession of darkening grey washes across the foreground, using stopping-out and possibly also scratching to introduce the lively and dramatic highlights of the crested and surging waves. Safely in the distance, in the Plym estuary, are the masts and sails of the fleet, protected by the stout tower at Mount Batten.
We are grateful to Ian Warrell for his help in preparing this catalogue entry.