Joseph Mallord William Turner

This series of views, rendered with precision and minute detail, show views of the Meuse near the Belgian city of Namur. The sketches were produced with the sketchbook turned upside down. At the uppermost register are three prospects of the river on the outskirts of Namur, the dome of Saint Aubin’s Cathedral visible in each. Turner visited the city at the beginning of his tour, on16 and 17 August (see also Tate D19641–D19649, D20058–D20059; Turner Bequest CCXVI 46–50, 259–259a). The two rear sketches show the bridge connecting Namur and the town of Jambes, which lie on opposite banks of the Meuse to each other.

Finberg catalogued this leaf as ‘Views on the Moselle’ because of the inscription at top left which reads ‘Aluff’.1 He suggested that this signified the village of Alf on the Moselle, in the province of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.