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

Drawn with the book turned upside down, these slight and summary sketches show the façades and profiles of various buildings. Slender cone-shaped turrets, a tiled roof, and cursorily rendered carved masonry can be seen. Turner has annotated the sheet with a dashed-off inscription which appears to read ‘[...]uys’. The lack of identifying features and the rather illegible inscription make it almost impossible to be certain of this view’s location. There is a possibility that the buildings may be at Ghent: perhaps part of the Church of St Nicholas (see Tate D19854; Turner Bequest CCXVI 150b), the Cloth Hall by the Belfry, or simply a view of a group of traditional buildings. Turner’s inscription ending ‘uys’ may also be his approximation of the spelling ‘huis’, the Dutch for ‘house’.