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

Here Turner depicts the city of Sedan, located in the Ardennes region of northern France. The view is taken from the Porte de Bouillon toward the south-east of the city, and incorporates the twin-towered baroque Church of Saint-Charles, which is rendered in blue, and the citadel at right, coloured in peach gouache. The flat pastures and low rolling hills of the Ardennes extend expansively beyond the city.

A small troop of soldiers with horses is visible in the foreground: a supplementary but important detail which reminds the viewer of Sedan’s formidable military history. Positioned in a highly strategic location on the Meuse and within miles of the French border with Belgium, Sedan was once at the fault line of conflict during the Thirty Years’ War (1618–48). Cecilia Powell writes that the foreground also provides Turner’s view with a ‘requisite sense of scale’ with which to frame and proportion the landscape beyond. ¹

Turner produced a preparatory sketch for this gouache in the Givet, Mézières, Verdun, Metz, Luxemburg and Trèves sketchbook of 1839 (Tate D28202; Turner Bequest CCLXXXVIII 18 a). The foreground fortifications are also close to those found in a sketch in Tate D28208; Turner Bequest CCLXXXVIII 21 a.

Verso:

Inscribed in pencil ‘95’ at centre.