Joseph Mallord William Turner

With the sketchbook turned horizontally, Turner filled this page with studies of Orléans. The vista at the centre of the page has been identified as the left bank of the Loire Valley with the Church of Saint-Aignan.1 The architectural details above show the towers of Notre-Dame de Recouvrance and Saint-Paul. This is one of a substantial number of sketches of the city and its environs in this volume, a list of which is provided in the sketchbook introduction. Turner subsequently used these drawings as the basis for multiple colour studies and finished watercolours on blue paper with a view to engraved reproduction. These culminated in a printed illustration for Turner’s Annual Tour: Wanderings by the Loire and Seine (1833–5; later reissued as Rivers of France);2 see Tate impression T04679.