This painting is one of a group of small sketches of the Medway, in the Aylesford area, which Turner painted when he was about twenty-five or thirty, at the turn of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It is thought that they were probably completed in outdoors, perhaps on a small boat, andso the painting seems particularly vivid in colour and free in execution. The clear sunlight illuminating the castle must have been a fortunate exception due to the bad weather at the time. Turner took a great interest in the composition of the St. Peter and Paul Church, and his works includeseveral, varied, sketches of this building, including studies of details. This is also the result of a journey around Kent.
The paintings in this group were first numbered, cleaned and exhibited from about 1804 to 1810. Ona canvas framed in mahogany veneer. On the right side of the frame are the printed numbers 2 and 12 in black ink. Next to them are the handwritten letters “WD”. On the reverse of the canvas the stamp “WC Middleton, Westminster Bridge – Royal Academy of Arts Collections” is discreetly visible, and on the frame there is the inscription “Frederick Bares 1918”.
The painting was slightly damaged during the evacuation in the fire.
In the upper part of the painting there are two holes, about 10 cm and 2 cm long, respectively. The work has high museum and collector’s value.
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