Joseph Mallord William Turner

With the sketchbook turned horizontally, Turner the upper half of this page with a view of the city of Saumur on the banks of the River Loire. The domed Church of Notre-Dame des Ardilliers has been identified on the left-hand side of the scene.1There are several pages of studies of Saumur in this volume which are listed in the sketchbook introduction. Turner subsequently worked up these sketches into colour studies on blue paper with a view to engraved reproduction. These culminated in two prints: one published in The Keepsake annual (1831) and the other in Turner’s Annual Tour: Wanderings by the Loire and Seine (1833–5; later reissued as Rivers of France);2 see Tate impressions T05107 and T04689. Warrell also identified the scene just below the top drawing as the riverside close to the settlements of Montsoreau and Candes-St-Martin and suggested that it served as the basis for an illustration of the Annual Tour; see Tate impression T04690.3