With the sketchbook turned horizontally, Turner filled most of this page with a south-westerly view across the ruined castle at Gisors, located some twenty-five miles east of the Seine as it flows past Les Andelys. The centre of the scene is dominated by a drawing of the tall donjon on its steep mound with special attention paid to the impressive buttresses that scale the structure’s full height. Just to the left of this feature can be seen the Tour du Gouverneur. Towards the bottom left-hand corner of the page is included a second sketch depicting the Tour du Prisonnier and the section of ramparts that runs immediately north of that feature.
Gisors and its ruined stronghold were the subject of particular study in this sketchbook. For a list of associated sketches in the volume, see the entry for folio 41 verso (
D23962; Turner Bequest CCLIV 41a). For a slightly later watercolour study of the town’s landmarks in the Turner Bequest, see Tate
D20265 (Turner Bequest CCXXII F).
