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

As geographer and Turner researcher Roland Courtot has identified, the two sketches on this page, executed with the book held horizontally, both show views of Fréjus.1 The lower drawing depicts the historic centre of town seen from the east, with part of the old medieval walls visible on the left, and the Cathedral of Saint-Léonce rising in the centre. The upper design represents a view of part of the Roman aqueduct, a significant local landmark which was originally over twenty miles in length, built to carry water from the nearby mountains to town. Various fragments of the aqueduct have survived, both in and around Fréjus, as evidenced by Turner’s drawings (see folios 4 recto, 68 verso and 69 recto; D21277, D21395, D21396). The detail represented here (and on folio 4 recto opposite; D21277) is located to the north-east of the town.

The Roman port town of Fréjus is situated on France’s Mediterranean coastline, approximately fifty miles north-east of Toulon, the starting point of the journey described in this sketchbook. Turner appears to have taken an inland route to Fréjus from Toulon, before continuing his journey to the city of Cannes, approximately twenty-five miles away. For a more detailed overview of Turner’s itinerary through this region, see the Introduction to this sketchbook. For additional views of Fréjus and the neighbouring resort of Saint-Raphaël see folios 3 recto, 4 recto and 66 verso–74 recto (D21275, D21277, D21391–D21406).

Technical notes:

Yellow staining along the edges of the page is most likely the result of 1928 Tate Gallery flood (see under sketchbook introduction).