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

Turned horizontally, the page shows Liège to the west-south-west up the River Meuse, with the Pont des Arches and the spire of the cathedral in the city centre in the distance. Beside the small boats in the foreground there are figures indistinctly labelled as women who are apparently either bathing or doing laundry. This is one of four variant views (see also folio 172 recto opposite, its verso and folio 173 recto; D19180–D19182) from near a small riverside structure with narrow windows or doorways on its near side, as shown in a more detailed sketch along this reach in the 1824 Huy and Dinant sketchbook (Tate D20097; Turner Bequest CCXVII 9).

The immediate setting has seen much development and change, but the viewpoint on the river’s north bank was likely near the Maison Curtius. Compare two detailed two-page views from some way further back on the south bank in the contemporary Holland, Meuse and Cologne sketchbook (Tate D19516–D19519; Turner Bequest CCXV 69a–70, 70a–71); the same small building appears to be shown on the bank below the mansion on D19517. For other views of Liège in this sketchbook and elsewhere, see under folio 155 verso (D19147), and see the sketchbook’s Introduction for discussion of its many shipping and figure subjects, and studies of individuals, their costume and headgear.

Technical notes:

There is brown staining towards the bottom right, offset to or from folio 172 recto opposite (D19180) and passing through to the recto (D19178). It presumably occurred in the 1928 Tate Gallery flood.