Joseph Mallord William Turner

Here Turner has produced a distant view of Givet, a French frontier town close to the Belgian border about fourteen miles south of Dinant. The ancient defensive fortress of Charlemont can be seen atop the Ardennes mountain range to the right. Givet is nestled at the foot of the range, marked out by the spire of the Church of Notre-Dame. This drawing and other sketches of Givet in this book (Tate D28171–D28185, D28187; Turner Bequest CCLXXXVIII 3–10, 11) formed the basis of a gouache and watercolour drawing on blue paper (private collection).1 The village of Heer is represented in the foreground.