With the sketchbook turned vertically, Turner recorded the horizon line of an architectural structure, apparently defensive in nature, at the top of this page. Both the Channel Islands and the Seine valley abound in such features, although the ruined medieval castle at Lillebonne shared the outlines of this structure in the early nineteenth century. For comparisons, see examples of the watercolours on this subject which Turner worked up with a view to engraved reproduction around this time: Tate
D24675 (Turner Bequest CCLIX 110),
D24676 (Turner Bequest CCCLIX 111), and
D24807 (Turner Bequest CCLIX 242). 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
T05599 and
T05600.
In the lower right-hand quadrant of the page, long sweeping pencil lines depict an undulating stretch of terrain with the sea or a plain beyond.
