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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Northern France 1832 > Seine and Paris Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Château de Gisors from the West, Normandy 1832

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Château de Gisors from the West, Normandy’ 1832
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 52 Recto:
Château de Gisors from the West, Normandy 1832
D23983
Turner Bequest CCLIV 52
Pencil on white wove paper, 174 x 117 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘52’ top right, ascending vertically
Stamped in black ink ‘CCLIV – 52’ top right, ascending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the sketchbook turned horizontally, Turner filled this page a westerly view of the eleventh-century castle at Gisors, located some twenty-five miles east of the Seine as it flows past Les Andelys. Arrayed upon a diagonal axis from the top left-hand corner down to the bottom right can be seen the tall donjon on its high mound, the Tour du Gouverneur, and finally the Tour du Prisonnier to which it is connected by a rampart.
Gisors and its ancient stronghold were the subject of particular study in this sketchbook. 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).

John Chu
July 2014

How to cite

John Chu, ‘Château de Gisors from the West, Normandy 1832 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, July 2014, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, April 2015, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-chateau-de-gisors-from-the-west-normandy-r1173388, accessed 25 April 2024.