J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

This leaf’s subject matter has remained unidentified since Finberg’s first cataloguing of it as ‘Views of a city’ in 1909. The drawings are tantalisingly detailed, however, and show prospects of the town and architectural details. This cataloguer suggests that Turner depicts Veurne in West Flanders. The finely wrought drawing of a cupola at bottom right, interrupted by a pre-existing landscape sketch, could be the belfry of Veurne’s Landhuis or town hall. The building at top centre, recorded again directly below in the central prospect, may be the Landhuis again, with the flying buttresses of Sint-Walburga Church to its immediate right. The small sketch at top left may show Nieuwpoort and its Belfry. There are also cursory sketches of figures by a river, a horse-drawn cart, and windmills.