Joseph Mallord William Turner

Church; Mont Saint-Michel, Normandy

1826

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

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Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
Cherbourg, Coutances and Mont St Michel Sketchbook
Medium
Graphite on paper
Dimensions
Support: 91 × 131 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D23394
Turner Bequest CCL 31 a

Catalogue entry

With the sketchbook turned horizontally, Turner filled the centre of this page with a study of a church, most likely situated on the Cotentin Peninsular in Normandy. At the top of the page, inverted in relation to the drawing below, is a distant view of the island-settlement of Mont Saint-Michel. This site features on multiple pages in this volume, a list of which is included in the sketchbook introduction. These were subsequently used as the basis for colour studies as Turner worked towards an engraved series of Channel Coast views: see Tate D25342 (Turner Bequest CCLXIII 220), D25379 (Turner Bequest CCLXIII 256).1

John Chu
May 2015

1
Ian Warrell, Turner on the Loire, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1997, pp.158–71.

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