By Turner's day Liège was already a large city and a thriving industrial centre with numerous ironworks and manufactories. In no.84 the large house at the centre with a steeply pitched roof, tall chimney and close array of windows is an embellished version of the sixteenth-century Maison Curtius, while the wooded area shown on the right is part of the Outremeuse, the long island in the Meuse which lies at the heart of Liège. In no.85 Turner shows the view from the south-western outskirts of the city close to the factories around Seraing, many of which were established by the Cockerill family of Lancashire.
Gallery label, September 1991
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