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

Rooftops of a ?French Town, with Spires, Towers and Domes c.1830

D40092

Pen and ink on blue wove paper, 141 x 191 mm

Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856

This sketch concentrates on the rooftop features of a town and includes several spires, towers and domes. The location, yet to be identified, may be on a river, as suggested by the overall arrangement of the scene. The group of figures to the left of the composition could logically be interpreted as occupying space on one side of a river, with the town on the other.

Not specifically mentioned in Finberg’s 1909 Turner Bequest Inventory, this is the verso of Tate D24953 (Turner Bequest CCLX 117), which was itself listed among a sequence of drawings on blue paper, described by Finberg as ‘mostly connected with the “French Rivers” series’ (see the Introduction to this section for an overview of the details and relevance of Finberg’s classification of these works).1

Hayley Flynn
April 2024