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

This is a prospect of the ruined Château d’Arc, also known as the Château d’Arques-la-Bataille, situated approximately four miles outside Dieppe (see also D20016–D20026, D20028; Turner Bequest CCXVI 237–242, 243). Constructed in the first half of the twelfth century, the fortress was a key site of conflict during the Hundred Years War and the French Wars of Religion.1 In 1589, for example, the bloody Battle of Arques took place there between Henry IV of France and the troops of the Catholic League.2

For other drawings of the Château d’Arc see Tate D20211, D35854; Turner Bequest CCXX E, CCCLXIV 17. See also Turner’s watercolour of the Château d’Arc produced for Scott’s Prose Works of c.1834–6, housed at Eton College, Library and reproduced in Tate impression T04762.3 There are also drawings of the castle at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge and the Brighton Museum and Art Gallery.4