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

The two panoramic vistas on this page were executed with the sketchbook turned horizontally. For the upper view, Turner followed the trajectory of the Rhône, tracing the riverbend as it forked and disappeared from view towards the hills on the horizon. His viewpoint is from Fort Saint-André, a medieval fortress in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon on the right bank of the Rhône, facing Avignon. Crenellated towers and ramparts are visible towards the right, and a church and buildings are outlined in the foreground. Villeneuve-lès-Avignon also appears on folios 39 verso and 41 verso (D21065, D21069; Turner Bequest CCXXX 38a and 40a).

As noted by the geographer and Turner researcher Roland Courtot, Turner’s west-facing viewpoint for the lower sketch appears to be from the Rocher des Doms in Avignon, a rocky outcrop bordering the Rhône, north of the Palais des Papes.1 Turner appreciated the panoramic vistas afforded by this location, using it as a base from which to sketch the city and its environs: see folios 41 recto–43 recto (D21068–D21072; Turner Bequest CCXXX 40–42).

In the bottom-right corner is the tower of Philippe le Bel, a subject that also appears on folio 39 verso (D21065; Turner Bequest CCXXX 38a) Fort Saint-André and the Philippe le Bel tower also appear in a watercolour and gouache study by Turner (Tate D28958; Turner Bequest CCXCII 11). Finberg’s 1909 Inventory of the Bequest initially misattributed this work to the artist’s Meuse-Moselle-Rhine tour of around 1834.2 More recently, the geographer and Turner researcher Roland Courtot has associated it with Turner’s 1828 visit to Avignon, making it contemporaneous with the present sketchbook.3

The vertical marks to the left represent the wooden bridge that was constructed two decades prior to Turner’s visit. It served as a substitute for the medieval Saint-Bénézet bridge, which had partially collapsed; at the time of Turner’s arrival in the city in 1828, only four of its original twenty-two arches remained intact. The timber bridge depicted here remained operational until 1843, when it was replaced with a suspension bridge, since demolished.4

For a general commentary on Turner’s visit to Avignon and a list of comparable works in the sketchbook, see under folio 40 recto (D21066; Turner Bequest CCXXX 39).