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

With the page turned horizontally, the somewhat fragmentary main sketch shows Veurne (‘Furnes’ in French), a small city not far inland from the North Sea Coast in western Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, a few miles from the French border. Other aspects are shown on the verso and folio 226 recto (D19287–D19288); Turner’s note on the latter confirms the setting.

Here, the east end of the Sint-Niklaaskeryk (St Nicholas’s) seems to be shown towards the left, with a rough outline of the Landhuis’s belfry to its west-north-west beyond towards the right; it is unclear how the rounded gables relate to the scene. The church’s spire and the belfry are shown in detail on D19287 and D19288. The viewpoint here appears to have been the canal which encircles much of the city centre, although later buildings along it preclude clear prospects. As discussed under folio 218 recto (D19272), the first view of Bruges, Turner likely continued westwards from there by boat along the Bruges-Ostend canal, turning before Ostend onto the Nieuwpoort-Plassendale canal, passing Nieuwpoort (see under folio 223 verso; D19283) and Veurne before crossing into France and reaching Dunkirk (see under folio 227 verso; D19291).

Above at the outer edge, there are characteristically deft incidental studies of women in bonnets, and horses with a rider drawing a waggon or carriage; see the sketchbook’s Introduction for discussion of its many figure scenes, and studies of individuals, their costume and headgear.