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

With the page turned horizontally, the main subject is a study of a sailing cargo barge from the port side, with likely the same craft seen at an angle above, and the somewhat redundant note ‘Canal Barge’ between; see the sketchbook’s Introduction for discussion of its many shipping subjects.

At the left is a separate small study of an escutcheon (shield) with a rampant ‘Lion on a Boat’. Turner made various notes of heraldic devices in this book, most notably those carved on the Groothoofdspoort gateway at Dordrecht (folio 48 verso; D18934). The lion, standing on a boat and variously shown holding a flag or halberd, is from the city arms of Nieuwpoort (‘Nieuport’ in French), in the west of Flanders in modern Belgium, then part of the post-Napoleonic United Kingdom of the Netherlands, just inland from the North Sea and a few miles east of the French border. The skyline of the small city itself is apparently shown in the sketch at the top (along the gutter). As discussed under folio 218 recto (D19272), the first view of Bruges, Turner seems to have continued westwards from there by boat along the Bruges-Ostend canal, turning before Ostend onto the Nieuwpoort-Plassendale canal to reach this point, looking south-west as he approached.

The square Duvetorre tower seems to be at the left, with the pinnacles of the Stadshallen’s tower to its west followed by the lost Baroque belfry of Our Lady’s Church, with its two-stage cupola as seen in early photographs, immediately west again of the town hall. The whole church was rebuilt with a tall Gothic spire, after severe damage in the First World War, and the Duvetorre remains in a ruined state. Two windmills are also marked. Houses now obscure the prospect, likely from near where the canal meets the River Yser. See also folio 224 recto opposite and its verso (D19284–D19285). From here, Turner presumably continued along the canal south around the east side of Nieuwpoort, next reaching Veurne, a few miles to the south-west (see folio 225 recto; D19286).