Joseph Mallord William Turner

Here Turner depicts five views of the Meuse valley, showing vertiginous limestone cliffs and fertile sloping banks where ‘Corn’ is grown. Given the scale and striations of the cliffs, Turner may be sketching near Marche-les-Dames, depicted on the folio 48 recto (Tate D19645; Turner Bequest CCXVI 48). The artist has inscribed one of the sketches with ‘women white cloth’, perhaps referring to women washing fabric or hanging it up to dry by the river.