Joseph Mallord William Turner

This sheet is one of a series of sketches associated with a tour of the Seine with a proposed dating of 1827–9. The studies are characterised by the use of pen and ink on blue paper; for more information see the Introduction to this section.

Turner certainly visited the industrial city of Rouen in 1821, 1826, 1829 and 1832, and Ian Warrell has argued that this sheet was made during an additional visit sometime between 1827 and 1829, during which Turner made the studies catalogued in this section. While the bottom half of the sheet is focused on a view of Rouen’s Bridge of Boats, the upper part shows the then newly constructed stone bridge, the Pont d’Angoulème, which crossed the Seine via the Lacroix Island.1 While construction appears well advanced in Turner’s slightly earlier views within the 1826 Rouen sketchbook (for the sketchbook see Tate D24077–D24106; Turner Bequest CCLV), the bridge appears complete in the present study and in Tate D24869 (Turner Bequest CCLX 33), a sheet thought to date from the same visit. The new bridge also formed part of some later views of the Seine at Rouen, including a gouache and watercolour study of c.1832 made for the print series Turner’s Annual Tour (Tate D24672; CCLIX 107). For an impression of the print, see Tate T06234.

For a list of other studies of Rouen catalogued within this section, see the entry for Tate D24839 (Turner Bequest CCLX 3).

Technical notes:

The paper is discoloured due to light exposure, a result of the sheet’s early exhibition history.

Verso:

The sheet has been laid down on heavy paper and the verso could not be checked at the time of cataloguing.