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

As he concluded his two-day boat journey from Lyon to Avignon, Turner sketched the dramatic ruins dotted along the banks of the Rhône. The geographer and Turner researcher Roland Courtot has identified the top and bottom studies as the Château de l’Hers, a tenth-century ruin on the left bank of the river, near Châteauneuf-du-Pape.1 Looking east and then north-east, Turner outlined its circular tower and jagged profile. Further studies of this subject appear on folio 31 (D21060–D21061; Turner Bequest CCXXX 36–36a). The artist’s inscription in the top-right corner appears to read ‘C Pirre’, the ‘C’ likely an abbreviation of ‘Château’. Finberg’s 1909 Inventory of the Bequest interpreted the second word as ‘Pirre’, although it could be a shaky spelling of ‘Pape’.2 Courtot identified the central castle study as the nearby Château de Roquemaure. All three studies are inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation.

Citing the present work, Cecilia Powell has commented on Turner’s fondness for castles. See under folio 3 verso (D20995) for a summary of her analysis.