J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

This sketch features buildings along the horizon line, including a prominent dome with a cupola and a wide low bridge. There appear to be masts in the foreground, suggesting that we are looking across a body of water. The verso, D40136, is perhaps a French subject, suggesting that the waterscape featured on this side might also be based on a French location.

Finberg noted that most of the sheets comprising Turner Bequest CCLXI 1–128 ‘were in a bundle labelled by Mr. [John] Ruskin – “O,231. Chalk scrawls on grey. Rubbish.”’1 Between his first expedition to the Continent in 1802 and his final journey abroad in 1845, Turner travelled through France on multiple occasions; this drawing is possibly linked to one of his four excursions to France between 1826 and 1832. See the Introduction for general remarks on this grouping.

Technical notes:

There are seven spots, varying in size, of what appears to be black ink on the left-hand side. There are also small patches of brown discoloration visible across the sheet, possibly the result of water damage from the 1928 Tate Gallery flood.