Art Collections Online
The Beacon Light
TURNER, Joseph Mallord William (1775 - 1851)

Media: oil on canvas
Size: 61.5 x 96.0 cm
Acquired: 1952; Bequest; Gwendoline Davies
Accession Number: NMW A 433
Collection: The Davies Sisters Collection
This painting was rejected as genuine in 1956 and in the 1977 complete catalogue of Turner’s paintings is described as ‘a partly reworked fragment; with a ‘curiously unauthentic appearance’ that ‘has certainly been worked on by a hand other than Turner’s. After recent investigations into the materials and technique it is now accepted as genuine and solely the hand of Turner.
Turner captures the effect of light on a raging sea and the spray from the waves crashing against the cliff. His intention here was to explore the nature of the sea under a changing sky, rather than to depict a specific place. However, the discovery of a painted out lighthouse on the cliff edge has prompted new research into a possible location. Traditionally said to show The Needles, Isle of Wight, it is now thought to depict the coastline from St Margaret’s-at-Cliffe, north of Dover looking towards the South Foreland Lighthouse, where there was both a beacon and a lighthouse. There is evidence that Turner may have had a house at St Margaret’s-at-Cliffe around the date of this painting.
Gwendoline Davies purchased Beacon Light for £2,625 at auction through Hugh Blaker in June 1922.
Comments - (18)
i recognised this cliff immediately it is the beach that i spent my childhood on, not off the cost of Margate, not even in Thanet, but it's the cliff that dominates the beach at St Margarets Bay in between Dover and Deal on the south east kent coast.
wonderful painting and even more wonderful place,
jlb
Here's a link to the exhibition page:
J.M.W. Turner: The Davies Collection
They are wonderful.
It's beautiful and I really look forward to seeing it on public display.
I would appreciate your comments also, could you let me know how I could arrange to view these pictures ?
I look forward to hearing fom you shortly
Kind regards
David Lee