The subject of the two drawings on this sheet was once thought to be Calais, but the art historian Ian Warrell has since identified it as Vernon in Normandy.
1 Vernon was also the subject of a drawing engraved as part of
Turner’s Annual Tour in 1835 (Tate
D24694; Turner Bequest CCLIX 129; for a Tate impression of the print see
T06247). The
Annual Tour composition, which is thought to be somewhat later than the present sheet, appears to take inspiration from a related study also catalogued within this section (Tate
D24860; Turner Bequest CCLX 24). The related study also sees the paper divided as on the present study, with two drawings in an almost panoramic format. This is taken a step further in a group of other sheets catalogued in this section Tate
D24894–D24896,
D24899–D24900,
D24904–D24905 (Turner Bequest CCLX 58–60, 63–4, 68–69), which are drawn on paper cut into a wide format. Turner did not often work in this way, and Warrell has drawn a connection between the panoramic format of these sheets and the wide-format landscape paintings Turner made to fit into the carved room at Petworth (see Tate
N00559), as well as Thomas Girtin’s views of Paris, which were published in a similar wide format.
2 For more information, see the Introduction to this section.