New walking trail in Guernsey which celebrates the work of J.M.W Turner

  • ITV Channel's Kate Prout has been exploring the trail

The famous artist, J.M.W Turner, has inspired a new walking trail in Guernsey which celebrates the sketches he did during his time in the Bailiwick.

The artist, whose name is used for the annual 'Turner Prize' given to British artists, spent time on the island in 1832, where around 100 sketches were made to depict his stay in Guernsey.

Frames have been placed around the island in the spots where Turner did his sketches.

Curator of the walk, Jock Pettitt says: "Those sketches offer us a lense of what Guernsey looked like in the 1830s and how that differs to today so we've been having a lot of fun trying to locate the spots where he sketched."

Credit: Spike Productions

The paintings can now be found at the Tate Gallery in London but the mystery remains as to why he was in Guernsey.

Art for Guernsey, Jock Pettitt says: "Things like Cholera were rife in the UK at that time so maybe he was heading to the continent to escape that.

"There are records of him in the sketchbook of him working in Hampshire, France and the Channel Islands there's also an idea of the route he was taking.

"When you look at his work he's very focused on built-up areas, there are fortifications, Castle Cornet, Vale Castle, Fort George, the Coupee. All these landmark places within the Bailiwick that he's covered."

The Turner Trail covers 16 locations across the islands, including Town Church and bathing pools.

"In many ways, like Renoir, Turner's work shows us how much Guernsey has changed in the last couple of hundred years and how little."

Credit: Spike Productions

Along with the trail, local artist James Colmer was commissioned to use similar landscapes to create his homage to Turner.

James Colmer says: "He was hugely prolific in general. You see with the minimal lines in his sketches, he was trying to get it down quickly. He was trying to get as many notes and images as he could for his bigger pictures later on."

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