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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Field of Waterloo from the North, with the Gordon Monument; Diagram of the Crossroads at Waterloo Showing the Positions of the Farmhouses of La Haye Sainte and La Haye 1817

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Field of Waterloo from the North, with the Gordon Monument; Diagram of the Crossroads at Waterloo Showing the Positions of the Farmhouses of La Haye Sainte and La Haye’ 1817
Folio 17 Verso:
The Field of Waterloo from the North, with the Gordon Monument; Diagram of the Crossroads at Waterloo Showing the Positions of the Farmhouses of La Haye Sainte and La Haye 1817
D12733
Turner Bequest CLX 17a
Pencil on white wove paper, 150 x 94 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Farm Ho’ towards top left, ‘Field of Waterloo | Haie Sainte’ and ‘Rd to Haie’ towards bottom right, within diagram
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
For Turner at Waterloo in 1817 see Introduction to this sketchbook and notes to folio 16 verso (D12731).
Approaching from the north, from Brussels through the Forest of Soignes to Mont St Jean, Turner reached the field of Waterloo. He sketched this view which includes the newly–completed Gordon Monument, which stands on the right of the road running south across the field, a short distance before the farm of La Haye Sainte. A column on a large pedestal, it had been erected in July 1817 to commemorate Lieutenant–Colonel Sir Alexander Gordon (1786‒1815), Wellington’s aide–de–camp, who died at Wellington’s headquarters after one of his legs, torn apart by a cannon ball, was amputated. The monument was built by Gordon’s family and was one of the earliest to be placed on the field.
Below right is a plan marking the road towards La Belle Alliance, the lane and road crossing it and the farm of La Haye Sainte. See Introduction to the sketchbook for the layout of the field and the significance of these buildings.

David Blayney Brown
June 2025

How to cite

David Blayney Brown, ‘The Field of Waterloo from the North, with the Gordon Monument; Diagram of the Crossroads at Waterloo Showing the Positions of the Farmhouses of La Haye Sainte and La Haye 1817’, catalogue entry, June 2025, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, June 2026, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/the-field-of-waterloo-from-the-north-with-the-gordon-monument-diagram-of-the-crossroads-at-r1212101, accessed 31 July 2026.