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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Northern France 1832 > Seine and Paris Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner The North Portal of Saint-Gervais and Saint-Protais at Gisors, Normandy 1832

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The North Portal of Saint-Gervais and Saint-Protais at Gisors, Normandy’ 1832
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 38 Recto:
The North Portal of Saint-Gervais and Saint-Protais at Gisors, Normandy 1832
D23955
Turner Bequest CCLIV 38
Pencil on white wove paper, 174 x 117 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘St Gervais’ centre left
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘38’ top left, inverted
Stamped in black ‘CCLIV – 38’ top left, inverted
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Inverted in relation to the sketchbook as foliated, the drawing in the top half of this page depicts the Gothic and Renaissance church at Gisors, located some twenty-five miles east of the Seine as it flows past Les Andelys. Clearly visible are the highly ornamented north portal, with its flanking towers and rose window and, beyond this, the grand tower of the western façade.
Gisors and its ancient architecture are the subject of particular study in this sketchbook. For a list of associated sketches in the volume, see the entry for folio 41 verso (D23962; Turner Bequest CCLIV 41a). For a slightly later watercolour study of the town’s landmarks in the Turner Bequest, see Tate D20265 (Turner Bequest CCXXII F).

John Chu
July 2014

How to cite

John Chu, ‘The North Portal of Saint-Gervais and Saint-Protais at Gisors, Normandy 1832 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, July 2014, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, April 2015, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-the-north-portal-of-saint-gervais-and-saint-protais-at-r1173360, accessed 20 April 2024.