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

Turner scattered this page with small sketches of the scenery and architecture of Normandy in varying degrees of detail. With the sketchbook turned horizontally, he worked a study of the upper donjon at the Château de Gisors into the top right-hand corner of the page. For a list of associated sketches in the volume, see the entry for folio 41 verso (D23962; Turner Bequest CCLIV 41a). For a slightly later watercolour study of the town’s landmarks in the Turner Bequest, see Tate D20265 (Turner Bequest CCXXII F).

Running at a right angle down the right-hand edge of the page is a sketch of a townscape with a tall building and an arched bridge. Though Turner’s cursory technique renders the architecture generic here, its general arrangement accords with the topography of Rouen. For a comparison, see folio 59 verso (D23998; Turner Bequest CCLIV 59a).