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

Turner likely reached Avignon in early September 1828, concluding his two-day boat journey along the Rhône valley from Lyon. He devoted several consecutive pages of the sketchbook to his impressions of the city: see also folios 40 verso–43 recto (D21067–D21072; Turner Bequest CCXXX 39a–42). He also sketched Avignon on four loose sheets associated with the same tour: see Tate D34039, D34510–D34512 (Turner Bequest CCCXLIV 320, 146–148).

Turner paid particular attention to the city’s rich architectural heritage, now listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. As the geographer and Turner researcher Roland Courtot observed, once the artist had disembarked from the boat, his sketching practice changed: free to walk around the city without being confined to the boat deck, his lines became more accurate, his compositions more thoughtful, and his panoramas better framed.1

Turner held the sketchbook horizontally to execute this panoramic view of the Palais des Papes, Avignon’s magnificent gothic palace. Built under two successive popes as the ‘old’ and ‘new’ palaces – the ‘Palais Vieux’ and the ‘Palais Neuf’ – it served as the papal residence for nine popes during the fourteenth century, until the return of the papacy to Rome. When Turner visited in 1828, the palace had suffered years of wear and tear due to its use as a military barracks and prison during Napoleon’s rule.

As Courtot noted, Turner’s vantage point was likely from across the river on the island of Barthelasse, where he could enjoy wider vistas.2 To the right is the Rocher des Doms, a rocky outcrop bordering the Rhône. To the left is the apse and the Romanesque tower of the Notre Dame des Doms cathedral, and the crenellated towers of the Palais des Papes. The view terminates to the far left with the gothic tower of the Saint-Pierre basilica. Also detailed are the fourteenth-century ramparts encircling the city, and figures on a boat in the foreground.