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

Turner filled much of this page with views of the settlement of Montjean-sur-Loire, perched on its three hills overlooking the River Loire. There are several pages of studies of this location in this volume which are listed in the sketchbook introduction. Turner subsequently worked up these sketches into colour studies on blue paper with a view to engraved reproduction. These culminated in a print published in Turner’s Annual Tour: Wanderings by the Loire and Seine (1833–5; later reissued as Rivers of France) ¹ wherein the ruined condition of its monastic and ecclesiastical edifices is more evident; see Tate impression T04691. A note between the sketches second and third from the top indicates that this page also incorporates studies of the riverside at Ingrandes, located some three miles downstream of Montjean-sur-Loire.