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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1836-47 Modern painter > Spring Tour of Northern France 1845 > Boulogne Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Cliffs ?near Boulogne 1845

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Cliffs ?near Boulogne’ 1845
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 4 Recto:
Cliffs ?near Boulogne 1845
D35407
Turner Bequest CCCLVIII 5
Pencil and watercolour on white wove paper, 230 x 326 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Fish Women’ and ‘Fort Napoleon | Fishing Village’ across bottom
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘5’ bottom right
Blind stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCCLVIII 5’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The coast around Boulogne is dotted with Napoleonic strongholds, although none now bear the name ‘Fort Napoleon’ as inscribed towards the bottom right of this sketch. The high cliffs featured centrally in this sketch may locate the view on the three mile stretch of coast between Boulogne and Wimereux where were located the neighbouring forts of Terlincthun and La Crèche.1
The pencil drawing is principally concerned with capturing the outline of a massy headland and some of its geological features. The rest is composed of indecipherable scratches although Turner has recorded the presence and location of certain picturesque details with inscriptions: ‘Fish Women’ to the bottom left and ‘Fishing Village’ to the bottom right. The watercolour passages are lightly applied, with blue and yellow describe the line between sea and sand, and cursory dashes of salmon pink and a lighter blue to suggest the colours of the sky and cliff.
1
Jean-Denis G.G. Lepage, French Fortifications, 1715–1815: An Illustrated History, Jefferson NC 2010, p.187–8.
Verso:
Blank, except for patch of purple watercolour transferred at top centre from folio 5 recto opposite (D35408; Turner Bequest CCCLVIII 6).

John Chu
November 2013

How to cite

John Chu, ‘Cliffs ?near Boulogne 1845 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, November 2013, 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-cliffs-near-boulogne-r1173508, accessed 26 April 2024.