Joseph Mallord William Turner

Eu from the North

1845

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

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Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of: Eu and Treport Sketchbook
Medium: Graphite and watercolour on paper
Dimensions: Support: 231 × 325 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D35441
Turner Bequest CCCLIX 6

Catalogue entry

This sketch represents one of a series of three view of Eu from a high hill north of the town; the others are D35439 and D35450 (CCCLIX 4, 15), A complex application of watercolour washes describes the town in the midst of the Bresle valley and, beyond that, the sea beneath liquid blue skies. Particularly prominent amongst the visible landmarks is the dark-blue bulk of the medieval collégiale, or ‘collegiate church’ of Notre-Dame and Saint-Laurent towards the left-hand side of the leaf.1 To the immediate right of this is the long frontage of the Château d’Eu,2 the summer palace of King Louis-Philippe, whose connection to Turner and to this final trip is set out in the tour Introduction. In the foreground towards the bottom right, Turner jotted down a note to remind him of the sight of a farmer and his dog walking through a cornfield.

For a contemporary description of the collegiate church, see John Murray (ed.), Hand-Book for Travellers in France, revised ed., London, Paris and Leipzig 1844, pp.66–7.

For a contemporary description of the palace, see ibid., pp.67–9.

Verso:

Blank; except for small spots of watercolour.

John Chu
February 2014

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