With the sketchbook turned horizontally, Turner filled this page with the panoramic north-westerly view of the Seine from the ruins of Château Gaillard, Normandy. At the bottom centre of the page can be seen the early Gothic Church of Saint-Sauveur at Petit Andely with its needle-like spire. Towards the right-hand edge of the page is described the domed eighteenth-century edifice of the Saint-Jacques Hospital.
Of all the Seine valley sights, Château Gaillard and the local villages of Les Andelys were the subject of particular study in this sketchbook. For a list of associated sketches in the volume, see the entry folio 51 verso (
D23982; Turner Bequest CCLIV 51a). For the watercolours of this landmark in the Turner Bequest that the artist worked up with a view to engraved reproduction, see Tate
D24678 (Turner Bequest CCLIX 113) and
D24692 (Turner Bequest CCLIX 127). These culminated in two engravings in the 1835 volume of
Turner’s Annual Tour: Wanderings by the Loire and Seine (1833–5; later reissued as
Rivers of France); see Tate impressions
T04708 and
T04709.
