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

With the page turned vertically both ways, there at least five related sketches here. Folios 157 verso–162 recto (D19151–D19160) comprise various elevated prospects of Liège from the heights to its north and west, looking over the city and the broad, winding Meuse Valley. Subsequent expansion and redevelopment make most of the exact viewpoints difficult to establish.

The most detailed view, at the top, is from immediately below the bastion at the north-west angle of the old city walls, which survives (albeit overgrown) at the corner of the Rue Louis Fraigneux and the Rue du Mississippi; the square tower of St Martin’s Church remains visible down the latter. The church is seen from a little further off on the recto (D19152), while the same bastion may be shown on folio 159 recto opposite (D19154). The sketch immediately below appears to show other fortifications, while a third outlines the distant valley.

The other way up, the outer sketch likely the tower of St Martin’s again; it is unclear whether the various rugged contours are all part of the same view. Below, overlapping with the last of the first three views, the tower seems to be further off to the right, with an apparently ruined building towards the left foreground. For other views of Liège in this sketchbook and elsewhere, see under folio 155 verso (D19147).