Joseph Mallord William Turner

The Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame and St-Laurent at Eu

1845

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In Tate Britain

Turner Collection: Turner and Gothic Cathedrals

Free entry
Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
Eu and Treport Sketchbook
Medium
Graphite and watercolour on paper
Dimensions
Support: 232 x 328 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D35451
Turner Bequest CCCLIX 16

Catalogue entry

This much exhibited view of Eu’s medieval collégiale, or ‘collegiate church’, of Notre-Dame and St-Laurent is taken from the little ‘irregular market-place’ to the south-east of the edifice, the steep incline of which contributes to the impression of towering height.1 Ian Warrell traces the use of a low viewpoint in this sketch to the Turner’s training in the studio of the topographical and architectural artist, Thomas Malton (1748–1804).2 To the left of the church, liquid blue washes have swamped the pencil drawing of the Château d’Eu, the summer palace of King Louis-Philippe, whose possible connection with the trip is laid out in the tour Introduction.
A market scene is drawn on the verso of this sheet (D40172).

John Chu
February 2014

1
John Murray (ed.), Hand-Book for Travellers in France, revised ed., London, Paris and Leipzig 1844, pp.66–7; see also Richard Snailham, Normandy and Brittany: from Le Tréport to St-Nazaire, London c.1986, p.66.
2
Warrell and Perkins 1988, p.20.

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