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

With the sketchbook turned horizontally, Turner filled much of this page with a depiction of the Romanesque Church of Saint-Sauveur at Montivilliers which situated about seven miles north-east of the port at Le Havre. Particular attention has been paid here to the way in which the landmark looms over the town square and to the decorative stonework of its western façade. There is also an attempt to catch the fall of light on the complex geometry of the lantern tower’s roof. Another building is been sketched in the top right-hand corner with a wagon or carriage parked at its entrance. Turner’s interest in the picturesque potential of this town culminated in a gouache and watercolour sketch of around this date; Tate D24650 (Turner Bequest CCLIX 85). Montivilliers recurs frequently in this section of the sketchbook; see folios 92 recto to 95 verso (D24063–D24070; Turner Bequest CCLIV 92–95a).