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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and French ... > Holland Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Houses in Dunkirk, with the Belfry and South Side of St Éloi's Church; Landscape with a Windmill and Distant Towers 1825

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Houses in Dunkirk, with the Belfry and South Side of St Éloi's Church; Landscape with a Windmill and Distant Towers’ 1825
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 228 Recto:
Houses in Dunkirk, with the Belfry and South Side of St Éloi’s Church; Landscape with a Windmill and Distant Towers 1825
D19292
Turner Bequest CCXIV 228
Pencil on white wove paper, 95 x 155 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘28’ top right, ascending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCXIV – 228’ top right, ascending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the page turned horizontally, Dunkirk’s St Éloi’s Church and its separate belfry are seen to the north along the present Place Jean Bart, where a statue of the Dunkirk-born privateer now stands in the square south of the church, which is largely obscured by modern buildings and trees. None of the houses shown here survive. The Neo-Classical west front then in place is shown on folio 227 verso opposite (D19291) and on the verso (D19293); see also folio 232 verso (D19301). The cupola and pavilion at its near end sit somewhat uneasily with the roofs along the Gothic flank of the church. For other views of the city here and elsewhere, see under D19291.
Below is a small study of a windmill and distant towers, possibly in the vicinity of Dunkirk, or perhaps around Boulogne (see under folio 241 verso; D19319).

Matthew Imms
September 2020

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Houses in Dunkirk, with the Belfry and South Side of St Éloi’s Church; Landscape with a Windmill and Distant Towers 1825 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2020, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, March 2023, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-houses-in-dunkirk-with-the-belfry-and-south-side-of-st-lois-r1202644, accessed 01 September 2025.