This page contains several studies relating to Tournus, a town on the River Saône in the Burgundy region of France.
1 Turner appears to have arrived at the town from the river and the two uppermost sketches both depict views seen from the approach to the north, travelling in the direction of Mâcon. The larger of the drawings includes the bridge and the Benedictine Abbey of St Philibert, whilst the smaller, in the top left-hand corner, is taken from slightly further south and shows the twelfth-century Church of St Madeleine. The page also contains a study of the architectural features of one of the arches of the bridge. For a general description and further sketches of Tournus see folio 22 (
D14024).
In the bottom right-hand corner there are two thumbnail sketches of a man and a woman in local costume. The female figure wears a black hat angled on one side of her head, a characteristic detail of the regional dress, as described by contemporary guidebooks. For example, author William Coxe noted that:
The costume of the women of Macon and its neighbourhood is pretty, but singular. It consists of a blue cloth petticoat, with a border of deep red, a jacket of the same, and a small felt hat worn over one side of the head only, displaying a neat little white cap, and all the dressing of the hair; on entering a church they take off their small hat, and carry it in their hands. It is a very pleasing sight on a Sunday, or a fête day, to see so many pretty faces all habited in the same fanciful costume.
2Further studies of Mâcconaise costume can be seen on folio 27 verso (
D14031).
