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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1836-47 Modern painter > Autumn Tour of Northern France 1845 > Eu and Treport Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Eu from the North 1845

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Eu from the North’ 1845
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Eu from the North 1845
D35441
Turner Bequest CCCLIX 6
Pencil and watercolour on white wove paper, 231 x 325 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Farmer looks ?back | in Corn to dog’
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘6’ bottom right
Stamped in black ink ‘CCCLIX 6’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This sketch represents one of a series of three view of Eu from a high hill north of the town; the others are D35439 and D35450 (CCCLIX 4, 15), A complex application of watercolour washes describes the town in the midst of the Bresle valley and, beyond that, the sea beneath liquid blue skies. Particularly prominent amongst the visible landmarks is the dark-blue bulk of the medieval collégiale, or ‘collegiate church’ of Notre-Dame and Saint-Laurent towards the left-hand side of the leaf.1 To the immediate right of this is the long frontage of the Château d’Eu,2 the summer palace of King Louis-Philippe, whose connection to Turner and to this final trip is set out in the tour Introduction. In the foreground towards the bottom right, Turner jotted down a note to remind him of the sight of a farmer and his dog walking through a cornfield.
1
For a contemporary description of the collegiate church, see John Murray (ed.), Hand-Book for Travellers in France, revised ed., London, Paris and Leipzig 1844, pp.66–7.
2
For a contemporary description of the palace, see ibid., pp.67–9.
Verso:
Blank; except for small spots of watercolour.

John Chu
February 2014

How to cite

John Chu, ‘Eu from the North 1845 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, February 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-eu-from-the-north-r1173537, accessed 19 April 2024.