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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1836-47 Modern painter > Autumn Tour of Northern France 1845 > Dieppe and Kent Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Buildings ?on a Channel Coast; Château d'Arques-la-Bataille 1845

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Buildings ?on a Channel Coast; Château d'Arques-la-Bataille’ 1845
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 30 Recto:
Buildings ?on a Channel Coast; Château d’Arques-la-Bataille 1845
D35539
Turner Bequest CCCLXI 30
Pencil on white wove paper, 111 x 86 mm
Watermark ‘W King | 1842’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘[?Sal...]’ towards top right
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘30’ top right, ascending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCCLXI – 30’ top right, ascending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the page turned vertically, at the outer edge are two sketches of distant buildings, one including a tower apparently labelled ‘Sal[...]’ or ‘Gal[...]’ but so far unidentified. They may be on a Channel coast; compare folio 29 recto (D35537), and see the sketchbook’s Introduction for the many slight coastal views scattered through it.
At the bottom left relative to the other sketches is a slight continuation of the keep of Château d’Arques-la-Bataille from the horizontal view on folio 29 verso opposite (D35538).
Technical notes:
There is some brown staining at the gutter and the edge, possibly indicating water damage in the 1928 Tate flood.

Matthew Imms
September 2016

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Buildings ?on a Channel Coast; Château d’Arques-la-Bataille 1845 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2016, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2016, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-buildings-on-a-channel-coast-chateau-darques-la-bataille-r1183961, accessed 16 July 2025.