Joseph Mallord William Turner

In this sketch, rendered tentatively in slight pencil line, Turner represents Namur in the distance from the Liège road. The Meuse is identifiable by the arched bridge in the centre, the citadel complex crowning the gradient to the right. This prospect, along with two others in this sketchbook (Tate D28123, D28126; Turner Bequest CCLXXXVII 43, 45) and a loose pencil study on blue paper of around 1826 (Tate D20309; Turner Bequest CCXXIV 19), form the basis of a gouache, pen and ink and watercolour drawing on blue paper of the same view (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge).1 See also the colour study Namur from the Fields (Tate D24711; CCLIX 146). For a similar view in an earlier sketchbook see the Brussels up to Mannheim-Rhine sketchbook of 1833 (Tate D29621, Turner Bequest CCXCVII 13).