Joseph Mallord William Turner

Notre-Dame de Calais

c.1826–30

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

View by appointment

Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of: Loose Studies of Northern France
Medium: Pen and ink on paper
Dimensions: Support: 138 × 192 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D24906
Turner Bequest CCLX 70

Catalogue entry

This is one of a batch of ink sketches of Calais on blue paper which can be dated on stylistic grounds to the later 1820s. The tower of Notre-Dame de Calais rises above the surrounding buildings at the centre of the composition. The exact occasion of these studies is unknown although Turner specialist Ian Warrell has suggested a link to the return leg of the artist’s tour of Northern France in the autumn of 1826.¹ See the Introduction to this section for a list of these works.

Ian Warrell, Turner on the Seine, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1999, pp. 32, 253 note 86, 254 note 99.

Technical Notes:

The cream card mount, which is fixed to the verso of this sheet, is inscribed in pencil with these notes on the recto along the bottom edge: ‘cclx.70’, ‘calais.’, ‘oxford 115 – 179.’, and ‘144’. On the verso along the bottom edge is inscribed in pencil ‘D.24960’ and ‘cclx.70’.

Verso:

The verso of the sheet is fixed to its mount.

John Chu
March 2016

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