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

With the sketchbook turned horizontally, Turner filled much of this page with drawings of monumental structures in Paris. Turner Bequest curator, A.J. Finberg suggested that the two sketches of columns in the centre of the page depict the July Column in the Place de la Bastille in the later stages of construction. Since this column was not fully complete until 1840 however, the drawings more likely record the similar Vendôme Column, which had been denuded of its statue of Napoleon during the Bourbon Restoration. For a comparison, see Turner’s sketch of the column in this volume (D24273; Turner Bequest CCLVII 55).