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

This page depicts the Maison Carrée or ‘square house’, a Roman temple in the centre of Nîmes. It was constructed in the first century AD to commemorate the prematurely deceased heirs of the Emperor Augustus, and is today regarded as one of the best-preserved examples of its kind. Turner’s viewpoint is from the side of the portico, looking west. The Corinthian columns are sketched in the foreground, and the coffered ceiling of the portico is also visible. For economy, only a corner profile of the entablature is included, with a further detail added to the left. A more distant sketch of the Maison Carrée from a different angle appears on folio 46 recto (D21078; Turner Bequest CCXXX 45). This sketch is inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation. For a general commentary on Turner’s visit to Nîmes and a list of comparable works in the sketchbook, see under folio 44 verso (D21075; Turner Bequest CCXXX 43a).

Executed at a later date and with the sketchbook turned upright, the study beneath depicts boat masts in the old port at Marseille, a location confirmed by Turner’s inscription. A more in-depth exploration of Marseille can be found later in the sketchbook between folios 53 recto and 66 recto (D21092–D21114 and D21117–D21118; Turner Bequest CCXXX 52–63 and 64a–65).