Joseph Mallord William Turner

With the sketchbook turned horizontally, Turner filled the lower half of this page with a view of Blois from the left bank of the Loire. Towards the centre of the scene can be seen the Pont Jacques-Gabriel and the cathedral. This is one of a substantial number of pages featuring sketches of the city and its environs, a list of which is provided in the sketchbook introduction. Turner subsequently returned to these drawings as part of a search for subjects for engraved reproduction. This culminated in two printed illustrations for Turner’s Annual Tour: Wanderings by the Loire and Seine (1833–5; later reissued as Rivers of France);1 see Tate impressions T04681, T04682.