Joseph Mallord William Turner

Taken together, this sketch and that on folio 58 verso (Tate D28270; Turner Bequest CCLXXXVIII 57 a) form one panoramic view of the west and the north of Luxembourg City. In this part of the prospect Turner depicts the old town of Luxembourg, or Ville Haute, from outside Trèves Gate. The view incorporates the tower of Saint Michael’s church shaded with light hatching and the spire of Notre-Dame cathedral towards the left. The narrow, sharply tapering spire of Saint-Jean-du-Grund is visible in the foreground.

The sketches are the basis for a gouache, pen and ink and watercolour drawing on blue paper of the Bock and the Rham plateau looking over the Alzette valley (Tate D20246; Turner Bequest CCXXI M). For other sketches of Luxembourg in this book see Tate D28228–D28231, D28266, D28267–D28269, D28271–D28288; Turner Bequest CCLXXXVIII 32a–34, 56a, 57–58, 59–67a. See also the earlier Rivers Meuse and Moselle sketchbook of 1824 (Tate D19712, D19714; Turner Bequest CCXVI 82, 83).