Joseph Mallord William Turner

The page contains two sketches, both drawn horizontally, of views of a quayside. Finberg noted this page as ‘Rouen’,1 and this location has been confirmed.2 Turner picks out the quayside buildings in some detail and includes a multi-arched bridge spanning the river on the right of the lower sketch (for information on Rouen’s bridges see under folio 72 verso; D23841). The bottom of this lower sketch could constitute a separate rougher sketch of the riverbank, but is more likely to be part of the same sketch and an indication of the shapes and vegetation of the opposite riverbank.

Art historian Ian Warrell states3 that this (presumably the lower) sketch is related to Turner’s later watercolour, Rouen, Normandy, c.1832 (Tate D24811; Turner Bequest CCLIX 246). The hill depicted on the right of the lower sketch would correspond with Rouen’s Mont Sainte-Catherine.