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

This page was used both horizontally and vertically for two separate purposes. Turned vertically, the outer half comprises a partly illegible note, ‘Bologne [sic] sur Mer – | May be good so long - - - [...] good 10 [...]’, above what is effectively an inverted sketch map loosely setting out the relative positions of cities between Liège in Belgium (see under folio 23 verso; D19442) and Rotterdam in the Netherlands (see under folio 52 verso; D19483), via Antwerp, all then within the United Kingdom of the Netherlands: ‘Liege’ (sic), ‘[...] neuf’, ‘Louvane’ (Louvain/Leuven), ‘20 League’ (sixty miles) beside a dotted line between Liège and ‘Bruxelles’, ‘Breda’, ‘Anvers’ (Antwerp), ‘24’ (the significance being unclear) and ‘Rotterdam’

There are no identified of any of these other than Liège and Rotterdam in the present sketchbook (see under folios 23 verso and 52 verso respectively; D19442, D19483). Both, along with Antwerp, are covered extensively in the contemporary Holland book; see under Tate D19147, D18908 and D19212 (Turner Bequest CCXIV 155a, 35, 188) respectively. For Boulogne in the present book and elsewhere, see under folio 8 verso (D19416). To the left of the above is a brief sum:

Horizontally, the inner half comprises various studies of small and large boats and their passengers; there is no wider context, whether British or Continental (see the sketchbook’s Introduction). See also boat studies on folio 89 verso opposite and the verso (D19549, D19551). Above is the back view of an elaborately dressed soldier in a tall helmet, apparently a hussar with a trademark fur-fringed jacket draped over the left shoulder; to the right is an annotated study of the front of a frogged tunic, perhaps belonging to the same soldier, annotated ‘Gold Ball 3 Row | the Lace yelow’. Although the Napoleonic hussar style was also adopted by British troops, given the largely Continental contents of this sketchbook he was perhaps more likely observed overseas than at Dover (see under folio 1 recto; D19401), suggesting that the boats were too.

Technical notes:

The bottom edges of this leaf and folio 89 (D19548–D19549) fall a millimetre or two short of the rest and are slightly irregular, being sections of the outer edge of the original sheet; see also folios 83 and 84 (D19541–D19552). The effect is least pronounced in the present case, affecting only about 60 mm towards the gutter.