Joseph Mallord William Turner

This is one of a batch of colour sketches of the promontory Granville in Normandy which Turner worked up from material gathered on his 1826 tour of Northern France. It is based on pencil drawings jotted down in the Cherbourg, Coutances and Mont St Michel sketchbook; see D23345 and D23362 (Turner Bequest CCL 5a, 15).1 See the Introduction to this section for a list of the comparable colour sketches of Granville. These may have been worked up in connection with one of several abortive attempts to put the material gathered on the 1826 tour of Northern France to use, most likely the failed The English Channel or La Manche print series.2

Verso:

Inscribed with a note in pencil ‘55’ at the centre of the page and ‘CCLXIII 235’ in the bottom right-hand corner. Stamped in black with the Turner Bequest monogram and ‘‘CCLXIII – 235’ towards the bottom left-hand corner.