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

With the sketchbook turned horizontally, Turner filled this page with studies of the Château de la Mailleraye which is located on the banks of the Seine just downstream of Jumièges. In the drawing across the centre of the page, the riverside position of this seventeenth-century edifice is given away by the presence of small boats clustered at the left-hand edge. These are presumably the ferries that crossed over to the far bank at this point. A small sketch of the associated seigniorial chapel, some distance downstream, is included in the bottom left-hand corner. A list of pages in the sketchbook featuring views of the Château de la Mailleraie is provided in the entry for folio 73 recto (D24025; Turner Bequest CCLIV 73). Turner’s interest in this subject culminated in an engraving in the 1834 volume of Turner’s Annual Tour: Wanderings by the Loire and Seine (1833–5; later reissued as Rivers of France); see Tate impression T05608.