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

This page contains three rough sketches of Marseille, captured from different vantage points and focusing on the port area. Depicted in the top-right corner is the fifteenth-century Tour du Roi René, as seen from the Quai du Port on the north side of the harbour. Directly behind is the Tour du Fanal watchtower, its dome only just visible. Turner later revisited this subject in a watercolour and gouache study (Tate D29031, Turner Bequest CCXCII 80), in which more of the Tour du Fanal is visible beyond the Tour du Roi René.

Beneath is a view of Fort Saint-Nicolas, with the Saint-Victor Abbey visible to the left and the hilltop Fort Notre-Dame beyond. This sketch extends onto folio 66 recto opposite (D21118; Turner Bequest CCXXX 65). Quayside warehouses are shown at the bottom of the page, inverted relative to the sketches above.

For a general commentary on Turner’s visit to Marseille and a list of comparable works in the sketchbook, see under folio 53 recto (D21092; Turner Bequest CCXXX 52).