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

Here Turner uses half of the page to record cursory studies of clouds, making note of the colours and tones of light: ‘golden light’, for example, or ‘sun red on blue light’. Below these sky studies is a small and picturesque riverside view, probably taken at or near either Ghent or Bruges. Tall swaying willows can be seen in the middle distance, rendered in loose scalloped line. They stand next to a building with a traditional crow-stepped gable and a windmill: signs that Turner is most likely in Flanders. In the foreground there are two small dinghies, moored to the banks.