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

With the sketchbook turned horizontally, Turner filled much of this page with a depiction of irregular buildings at Montivilliers, situated about seven miles north-east of the port at Le Havre. The sketch on folio 93 verso opposite (D24066; Turner Bequest CCLIV 93a) suggests that this drawing was also made close to where the River Lézarde winds through the town’s medieval centre. In the top right-hand quadrant of the page can be seen the looming tower and spire of the Romanesque Church of Saint-Sauveur. Turner’s interest in the picturesque potential of Montivilliers culminated in a gouache and watercolour sketch of around this date; Tate D24650 (Turner Bequest CCLIX 85) which shows a closely comparable scene. For other studies he made of the town in the sketchbook. A list of the other studies which the artist made of Montivilliers in this volume is provided in the entry for folio 96 recto (D24071; Turner Bequest CCLIV 96).