Palais du Louvre, Paris

1832

Image released under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND (3.0 Unported)

License this image

In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

View by appointment

Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of: Paris and Environs Sketchbook
Medium: Graphite on paper
Dimensions: Support: 175 x 127 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D24188
Turner Bequest CCLVII 11 a

Catalogue entry

With the sketchbook turned horizontally, Turner filled this page with a study of the Palais du Louvre as seen from the Seine as it flows through Paris. Multiple additional sketches of the edifice’s architectural ornamentation have been included on the right-hand side of the page. Turner made several sketches of the Parisian riverside in the present volume, a list of which is provided in the sketchbook Introduction. For the watercolours of the city’s quaysides which Turner worked up with a view to engraved reproduction around this time, see Tate D24683–D24685 (Turner Bequest CCLIX 118–20). These culminated in several 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 T05621–T05623.

John Chu
January 2015

Read full Catalogue entry