With the sketchbook turned horizontally, Turner filled much of this page with studies of the harbour infrastructure at Le Havre, Normandy. Prominent at the centre of the page is the sixteenth-century tower of François I guarding the entrance to the port with a sail-boat gliding in front. Immediately to the right of this, particular attention has been paid the recession in perspective of the artificial pier’s long walls. A much more detailed sketch of these structures features in the
Guernsey sketchbook which was probably taken on the same tour; see Tate
D23539 (Turner Bequest CCLII 10). For examples of the watercolours of Le Havre that Turner worked up with a view to engraved reproduction around this time, see Tate
D24647 (Turner Bequest CCLIX 82),
D24698 (Turner Bequest CCLIX 133), and
D24699 (Turner Bequest CCLIX 134). These culminated in two engravings in the 1834 volume of
Turner’s Annual Tour: Wanderings by the Loire and Seine (1833–5; later reissued as
Rivers of France); see Tate impressions
T05594 and
T04699.
