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

Turner worked gouache and watercolour paints over this ink drawing to depict the panoramic view over Caudebec-en-Caux from nearby hillsides at Sainte-Clair, Normandy. The right-hand side of the scene features substantial stone walls and a flight of steps; down below, the spire of the Church of Notre-Dame rises above the rooftops of the town.1 As the view continues along the valley, the river and surrounding hills are accented with white chalk.

Sketches of Caudebec and its church recur frequently in the Guernsey and Seine and Paris sketchbooks and presumably contributed to the conception of this and a further two colour studies in the Turner Bequest; see Tate D20235 (Turner Bequest CCXXI B) and D24818 (Turner Bequest CCLIX 253). For lists of these sketchbook studies, see the entries for Tate D23550 (Turner Bequest CCLII 17) and D24029 (Turner Bequest CCLIV 75). For the finished watercolour of Caudebec which Turner worked up with a view to engraved reproduction around this time, see Tate D24670 (Turner Bequest CCLIX 105). All this activity culminated in an engraving in the 1834 volume of Turner’s Annual Tour: Wanderings by the Loire and Seine (1833–5; later reissued as Rivers of France); see Tate impression T05601.

Technical notes:

A thin margin of dark blue paper around the edges of this sheet indicates damage from prolonged exposure to light. The verso is attached to the mount.