I will briefly cover Joseph Mallord William Turner's life before he came to Charmouth. Born in Covent Garden, London in 1775 to William Turner, a Barber and Mary Marshall, his childhood was affected by his mother’s mental illness who was to be admitted to Bethlem Hospital in 1799. Due to her condition, he spent much of his childhood with relatives in Middlesex and later attended school in Margate. The family lived and worked from number 26 Maiden Lane, where his father would display his son`s early drawings. Later in his life he would move to 47 Queen Street in London, both shown here.

At 14, Turner entered the Royal Academy Schools, quickly showing prodigious talent in watercolours and architecture. In 1796, he debuted his first oil painting,” Fishermen at Sea”, which received critical acclaim and established his reputation as a master of light and marine subjects.

He was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy (ARA) in 1799 at age 24, the youngest possible age, and became a Full Academician (RA) in 1802. The  Aquatint by  Thomas Rowlandson and Augustus Charles Pugin, shows the Exhibition Room in Somerset House at that time. Turner exhibited each year at the Academy while painting in the winter and travelling in the summer widely throughout Britain, where he produced a wide range of sketches for working up into studies and watercolours. These were particularly focused on architectural work, which used his skills as a draughtsman. In  1811 he had a good show at the Academy, where the Prince Regent,who praised it in his speech at the Academy banquet as “a masterly composition in the style of Claude Lorrain”.

In 1804 Turner  opened his own private Gallery in Harley Street to maintain control over how his work was displayed and later became Professor of Perspective at the Academy in 1807, where he lectured until 1828. He delivered his first series of lectures as Professor of Perspective in January 1811, which were noted for their elaborate visual aids but sometimes criticized for his muddled delivery. This painting by George Jones shows the interior of  his Gallery with Turner`s oil paintings packed closely together across the walls and floor.

The Tate Gallery recreated the gallery based on George Jones's view. It allowed Turner to control the display of his own works, separate from the Royal Academy, and was a space for private showings and sales. In a diary entry, Joseph Farington recorded a visit in 1811 to the annual one-man exhibition at  the Gallery, where his Father told him  that “Turner was out of town two months last Summer, from the middle of July to the middle of September, making views on the coast of Dorsetshire, Devonshire, Cornwall & Somersetshire – for Cooke’s work”.

As Turner grew older, he became more eccentric. He had few close friends except for his father, ("Old Dad") who retired from his barber shop to live with Turner, serving as his devoted studio assistant, gardener, and cook. He never married but had a relationship with an older widow, his housekeeper, Sarah Danby. He was the father of her two daughters, Evelina Dupuis and Georgina Thompson.
In the movie: “Mr. Turner”, released in 2014, there is a scene shown here that recreates the visit of  Sarah Danby and her family to Turner`s House. Standing in the doorway is his father, William and Hannah Danby, niece of Sarah, who was to become Turner`s faithful housekeeper for the rest of his life. In front of them is Sarah Danby with her family.

Turner travelled around Europe from 1802, typically returning with voluminous sketchbooks. He was as prolific as he was gifted, producing some 550 oil paintings, over 2,000 watercolours, 300 sketchbooks and many thousands of works on paper. His generous bequest of paintings to the nation, later expanded, is now largely housed in London’s Tate Britain. In 1969 art historian Kenneth Clarke wrote of Turner: "He was a genius of the first order-far the greatest painter that England has ever produced.  Intensely private, eccentric, and reclusive”. The first portrait shown here, is by Charles Turner and the second depicts Turner on Varnishing Day at the annual exhibition at the Royal Academy by S.W. Parrott. 

J.M.W. Turner`s  visit to Dorset in the summer of 1811 was part of a major commission by engravers George and William Bernard Cooke for their “Picturesque Views on the Southern Coast of England”. A  project requiring extensive coastal drawings for publication, leading Turner to tour the West Country, filling sketchbooks with views, including Poole, Corfe, Lulworth, Weymouth, Portland, Bridport, Charmouth and Lyme Regis, capturing landscapes and everyday life for future engravings, to be produced between 1814 and 1826, for which forty drawings were commissioned. The artist had settled on a fee of ten shillings for each print, plus a share in the profits. He later demanded an increased fee and twenty-five India-paper proofs of each plate. The financial arguments which ensued eventually led to a rift between the artist and his engravers, and the work was discontinued.

The majority of Turner`s sketches of Dorset can be found today in his “Devonshire no. 1 Sketchbook” at the Tate Gallery in London. Interleaved with his  1810 copy of Nathaniel Coltman’s ”The British Itinerary” bound in boards, covered in brown leather with gilt rules to four raised bands on the spine, This small sketchbook is the cornerstone of Turner’s work in the West Country in the summer of 1811, primarily undertaken as research for his ”Picturesque Views on the Southern Coast of England” Many of  the resulting watercolours were based on the  drawings in the book. His visual recall was such that he was able to use these drawings as a sufficient memory aid for complex compositions.On the unprinted leaves are rough accounts, a schedule, notes,  with numerous figure sketches and  poetry he composed to record  his impressions on the trip.

The inside pages of Turner`s   1810 copy of Nathaniel Coltman’s The British Itinerary which listed coach times and journey lengths. On the tour, he completed more than 450 sketches and drawings (some coloured),  in  the “Devonshire Coast” Sketchbook. There was also a  “Corfe to Dartmouth” Sketchbook  with another 150 Sketches. 

J.M.W. Turner also referred to an 1810 “ Guide to all the Watering  and Sea Bathing Places” by John Feltham, shown here, for detailed information concerning all the places he would visit. I am fortunate in having a copy similar to the one Turner would have used.

This is  the map accompanying Felthams`s “ Guide to all the Watering  and Sea Bathing Places”. Turner was an avid traveler who carefully planned his trips, often consulting guidebooks and gathering recommendations from friends. He relied on pocket-sized sketchbooks and pencils to record all that he saw.

The map from the guidebook would have been the equivalent to google maps at the time providing the tourist with all the information he needed before his trip. It was a popular form of publication, listing over sixty places in England and Wales which had become fashionable either for their spas or sea bathing facilities. The route from London called at Andover, Salisbury, Woodyates Inn, Blandford, Dorchester, Bridport and finally Charmouth.

The Tate Gallery in London has in its collections; Notes on West Country Topography taken by Turner from John Feltham's 'Watering and Sea-Bathing Places’. Amongst the observations was “ Lyme Regis where the Duke of Monmouth landed”.

The Napoleonic Wars (1792-1815) encouraged domestic tourism, leading to British coastal towns and ports, particularly those on the southern coast of England, to be viewed increasingly as a mainstay of the leisure industry. Dorset sites are much the same as they were when Turner walked about them. One can still stand on the same spot he stood and admire the same views after two centuries. I have numbered the route he would have taken on a contemporary map.

Joseph Mallord William Turner was a famous man in 1811.His career had been spectacular. At this the midpoint of his life, his output was prodigious and varied; oils, watercolours, engravings, with only a fraction of his total work produced around the time of his West Country tour. After some preliminary reading he took his  sketch-books, paint-box, clothes, books and fishing rod, and left his father and Hannah Danby, his loyal housekeeper in charge of his Gallery and  set off by Coach, eventually arriving at Poole in the mid July 1811. A watercolour of Poole is shown here which he later painted based on the sketches he would have taken during his stay in the town. Turner declared “Poole to be a sad place whose reality did not live up to its pretensions. He also mentioned a 'deep-worn road' that Deny'd the groaning waggon's ponderous load', both of which he included in the drawing. This watercolour, based on his sketches was completed in 1812 and is now in a private collection,

On his journey he recorded his impressions in notebooks measuring around 15 x 20 centimetres, The journalist Cyrus Redding, who got to know Turner in 1811, described him as “ rather stout and bluff-looking and 'somewhat resembled the master of a merchantman”. Travelling west from Christchurch Turner approached Poole and looked south-west past the town across Poole Harbour to the Isle of Purbeck. This is the faint pencil  drawing that appears in his sketchbook of the view that was to later be the basis for his watercolour. The viewpoint has been identified as Canford Heath, above Fleets Corner.

The engravings were issued between 1814 and 1826 and subsequently as a book, published by John and Arthur Arch and others as ”Picturesque Views on the Southern Coast of England, from Drawings made Principally by J.M.W. Turner, R.A”.

Turner visited  Corfe Castle in 1811 and sketched it exactly as it appears here in this watercolour. He captured the ruined fortress from numerous vantage points, ranging from distant vistas in Poole Harbour to detailed sketches of the castle's entrance.  The watercolour, painted in 1812  is now held by the Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts in the USA, though it is not currently on view. 

This is a watercolour that Turner did on the spot in his Sketchbook. The castle is seen to the north-east across low ground; the village is visible from this angle but lies beyond the edge of the composition to the right.

This notable engraving  was based on the watercolor. The scene features women laying out laundry on the hillside near the castle bridge, a detail added to emphasize a sense of peaceful decay following its destruction in the Civil War.

The finished watercolor of Lulworth Cove painted in 1812, showing a detailed coastal landscape. Turner created several significant works depicting Lulworth Cove in Dorset. In July 2024, this masterpiece reemerged at a Sotheby's auction after being out of public view for 96 years where it sold for £385,000.

This was one of the first paintings completed after Turner’s return to London and was published in 1814. This line engraving captures the viewpoint from the east side of the cove where Portland is visible through the entrance.

This  watercolour view of Lulworth Castle was painted by Turner in 1820. The original artwork is part of the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Centre for British Art in New Haven, U.S.A. ,though it is not currently on view. The sheet measures approximately  6 x 10 inches. The painting depicts a serene, pastoral scene with the historic Lulworth Castle against a backdrop of lush, rolling hills. The foreground includes figures, cattle grazing by a stream, and a passing sailor.

The final watercolour was later engraved by George Cooke and published in 1821 for the Southern Coast series.

The watercolor titled "Weymouth“ highlights the town's sweeping bay and the nearby Isle of Portland, featuring fishermen, bathers, and sailboats against the backdrop of the coastline. The original watercolor is also  held by the Yale Center for British Art (Paul Mellon Collection) in the United States.

The view was Engraved by G. Cooke for  Picturesque Views on the Southern Coast of England in  1821

J.M.W. Turner created a notable watercolour and several sketches of the structure known locally as  Bow and Arrow Castle on the Isle of Portland, which is also called Rufus Castle. In his composition, Turner incorporated two different viewpoints from his sketches, even drawing the archway twice in one of his initial drawings to give it more prominence. He also included the nearby Pennsylvania Castle. The completed watercolour, from 1815, is held by the Victoria Gallery & Museum, University of Liverpool

The watercolour: Bow and Arrow Castle, Portland was later engraved for the series Picturesque Views on the Southern Coast of England.The alternative name, Bow and Arrow Castle, likely comes from a common misidentification of the castle's medieval gun ports as "arrow loops". Its primary name was Rufus Castle. , 

One of Turner’s most significant works from Dorset depicts Bridport Harbour, now known as West Bay  with the  East Cliffs and a ship in choppy waters. The original watercolour is held by Bury Art Museum, where it is not on display. The painting was previously loaned to Bridport Museum for a special exhibition in Summer 2019. Turner wrote of Bridport "The low sunk town/Whose trade has flourished from early time. The trade was rope and cordage, 'Remarkable for thread called Bridport twine”. Bridport's trade was vital to Britain's navy at that time during the Napoleonic Wars . The site today is rather tame. Substantial cliff falls have significantly changed the profile of this stretch of coast and the cliffs were more massive when he saw them.

This is the original drawing of the beach that formed the basis of Turner`s watercolour of  West Bay. .

There is another drawing in The Devonshire Coast no. 1 Sketchbook, now held by the Tate Gallery in London of Fishermen's Cottages in West Bay. He would have used this in the foreground of his famous watercolour of Stormy West Bay.

This view of Bridport was engraved by W.B. Cooke for “Picturesque Views on the Southern Coast of England”, published in 1820.

Turner was not alone in depicting West Bay  and there follows several similar pictures from the 19th century

A view from the harbour of the coast.

West Bay Harbour in 1836

The Tate Gallery has another watercolour sketch by Turner painted in 1826 of West Bay. It is very similar to an  aquatint by William Damiell.

While William Daniell and J.M.W. Turner both depicted West Bay, then known as Bridport Harbour, during the early 19th century. Daniell's view looking west was published in 1825 as part of his  A Voyage round Great Britain, a series of 308 coloured aquatints which were published between 1814 and 1825.Many of the Daniell and Turner sites overlapped, often from the same viewpoints.

I now wish to cover J.M.W. Turner`s visit to Charmouth and Lyme Regis, before he travelled on to Sidmouth. He painted this wonderful view towards Lyme Regis from Charmouth  beach in 1811.

He also  painted this view from the same spot looking the other direction towards Golden Cap, known as “ Rocky Coast”, which is held by the Tate Museum in London. Sadly, both are kept in storage and are rarely displayed.

These paintings were based on sketches shown here taken of the village by Turner, which can now be seen in two sketchbooks at the Tate Gallery in London. No.1 drawing was used for the “Squall” and no. 2 for “Rocky Coast” Nos. 3 and 4 are of the view from the Road between Charmouth and Lyme Regis, I will now go into more depth regarding the time he was to spend here, before he moved on to Lyme Regis.

Coincidently, the year of Turner`s visit in 1811 was the launch of the first Ordnance Survey for Dorset. A section of it from Bridport to Lyme Regis is shown here with the same area today as comparison. It was originally conceived as part of Britain's defensive preparations against the French.

Turner would have passed through Chideock on his way to Charmouth. This  early watercolour shows the  thatched cottages with a flock of sheep passing along its street. Charmouth`s appearance would no doubt have been very similar at that time.

When Turner  looked down on to the village he would have seen many of the fields growing Flax, which with Hemp was the staple that was used by the  Sail Cloth manufacturers.

Turner painted this wonderful view towards Lyme Regis from Charmouth  beach in 1812. There is the fisherman with his massive shrimping net and a group of bathers. This is now owned by the Kelvingrove Art Gallery in Glasgow and is called The Squall.

This faint  sketch was the basis for the watercolour Lyme Regis, A Squall”. The prospect is to the south-west from the beach at Charmouth and is  the same viewpoint as for the sketch  looking towards Golden Cap to the east.

A tracing of Turner`s Sketch of Lyme Regis from Charmouth Beach, which shows the Cobb in the distance.

This is the engraving of the  watercolour that was published  by George Cooke in 1824

Turner took a close interest in how his watercolour could be successfully rendered by engravers and offered detailed instructions on how his paintings should be reproduced. Turner's rare praise for the proof of Lyme Regis underscored his satisfaction with how Cooke captured the atmospheric "squall“.  Cooke has written: 

'On receiving the proof Turner expressed himself highly gratified; he took a piece of white chalk and a piece of black, giving me the option as to which he should touch it with. I chose the white-he then threw the black chalk some distance from him. When done I requested he would touch another proof in black. "No," said he, "you have had your choice and must abide by it."

The Shrimpers at Lyme Regis. The back of the painting bears the ink inscription: "Presented to me by J.M.W. Turner 1832, J. Harding". This an oil painting of the view that Turner made as a  gift to Harding. James Duffield Harding  was a renowned watercolorist, and a close friend of Turner. The painting was famously discovered in a storeroom at Nunnington Hall before its significance was fully realized, and  it is now on display in their drawing room

This oil painting is a fine copy by Copley Fielding (1787 – 1855) of Turner`s view of Lyme Regis which recently came up for auction and was sold for £2000.

An AI interpretation of the same view

The original Watercolour of Charmouth by J.M.W. Turner  is now held at Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow, where it is not on display. They kindly bought it out of storage to show it to an enthusiast of the artist. I have since approached Lyme Regis Museum about borrowing it for an exhibition on Turner, which they seemed happy about. Unfortunately, they were told that the insurance would make it prohibitive. 

This is a similar watercolour entitled 'A Coast Scene at Lyme Regis' by John Hoppner painted  in 1800.

William Newberry captured the same view from Charmouth Beach towards Lyme Regis in 1820.

William Daniell  was to visit Charmouth in 1822 and paint a similar view to that of Turner showing the path to Lyme Regis. In the past the principal way out of Lyme Regis was by Coombe Street to Colway Lane at Horn Bridge. The only other was by a path along the bottom of the cliffs to Charmouth, shown here, which has long since disappeared into the sea. All goods that came in and out of the town on the landward side were carried in baskets on the back of pack-horses. This view was published in his “A voyage round Great Britain”. The work is most famous for its 308 aquatint plates, all drawn and engraved by Daniell himself.  He made pencil sketches using a camera obscura and later produced the aquatints in London.

The same  view from Charmouth Beach today.

The  other view that J.M.W. Turner produced  is an oil painting known as “Rocky Coast” which I have only recently identified from studying all his paintings. It  is the view looking east towards the Golden Cap. Both were taken from the same viewpoint by the “Lookout” in opposite directions in 1811. The  It is  kept at the Tate Gallery but is not on display.

This is the  faint  pencil sketch for the previous oil painting  described as “Charmouth Beach with Cain’s Folly and Golden Cap”  It can be found in Turner`s “Corfe to Dartmouth’ sketchbook.

I have produced a tracing from the sketch to show the view in better clarity.

This is another watercolour by William Newberry with a view towards Golden Cap with Wagons collecting Seaweed and Stone on the shore.

A  Watercolour of the Golden Cap from Charmouth beach by John Baverstock Knight (1785 – 1859)

The View towards the Golden Cap from Charmouth beach today.

Turner would have travelled along the road that led from Charmouth to Lyme Regis above the beach to capture this view looking down on to the village from Old Lyme Hill which appears  in the  “Devonshire Coast no. 1 Sketchbook”.

A more detailed, though still relatively slight drawing in the Corfe to Dartmouth sketchbook inscribed ‘Charmouth and Lyme’, appears to show much the same view. It is Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Road’ bottom left and ‘Charmouth and Lyme’ bottom right.

An enlargement of the view of Charmouth from Old Lyme Hill.

A tracing of Turner`s Sketch of Charmouth from Old Lyme Hill

A similar watercolour entitled 'Between Lyme and Charmouth' in Dorset. 1825 by  John White Abbott

A View of Charmouth  from Old Lyme Hill engraved in 1826

The old road that led from Charmouth to Lyme Regis before it disappeared in a Land Slip in  1934.

Fanny Burney in 1791 wrote "We set out, after dinner, for Lyme from Charmouth and the road through which we travelled is the very most beautiful to which wandering destinies have yet sent me. It is diversified with all that can compose luxuriant scenery and with just as much of the approach to sublime, as in the province of terrific beauty".
This view although later than Turner`s visit reveals how precarious the Old Lyme Hill was. In 1824 a new route was carved out of the hill as a lower level and resulted in a gap known as the Devils Bellows on account of the strong winds that would be encountered there.

This wonderful view of Lyme Regis by John Nixon was used in the 1803 edition of Turner`s 1810 copy of “ Guide to all the Watering  and Sea Bathing Places” by John Feltham. Although flattering of Charmouth`s virtues, was quite damming of Lyme Regis as this extract clearly reveals:
" The Proximity of Lyme and Charmouth, for they are within two miles of each other, and the constant intercourse which is kept between those who visit either the one or the other, evinces the propriety of clashing them together. As Lyme is more frequented, it first claims attention. It is built on a declivity of a craggy hill, at the head of a little inlet of the sea, and contains many respectable looking houses, with pleasant gardens, particularly in the upper part of the town, but the streets are steep, rugged and unpleasant. In the lower part the houses are mean, and the streets so intricate, that a stranger, as has been wittily remarked, will sometimes find himself bewildered, as if he were entangled in a forest or the labyrinth of a fox den. Here the lower order of the inhabitants in general reside, having that position which nature and fortune assigned on them".

J.M.W. Turner visited Lyme Regis during his 1811 West Country tour, sketching the iconic Cobb harbour and surrounding coastline, which inspired  him to paint  "Lyme Regis,: A Squall" in 1812 and "Lyme Regis, Dorset" in 1834. These faint drawings appeared in his “Devonshire Coast” and Corfe to Dartmouth” Sketchbooks.

Here another three faint drawings from his sketchbooks of Lyme Regis.

Lyme Regis, Dorsetshire, England  painted in 1834. This is the finished watercolor for his Picturesque Views in England and Wales series, which is currently held by the Cincinnati Art Museum in the United States. He used a number of his earlier sketches as the basis for this painting.

Turner’s viewpoint is the shore east of the Cobb), looking north-east towards the town along what is now Marine Parade, with the square tower of St Michael the Archangel’s Church at the centre. He painted  it 23 years after he visited the place. These intervals are explained because Turner rarely coloured out of doors,  but painted the watercolours in the studio using his sketches as the framework.

An engraving after this work was published in 1836.

The Original Drawing for Lyme Regis  in “Corfe to Dartmouth Sketchbook” drawn by  by J.M.W. Turner drawn in 1811.

The bridge underwent major changes in 1913 when Bridge Street was widened for motor traffic. The first postcard from 1923 reveals the changes. The view is somewhat similar today.