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

This carefully rendered study shows the town of Abbeville in the Picardy region of northern France, which Turner visited on 10 and 13 September 1824. The artist sketches from the present-day Parvis Saint-Vulfran, recording the street scene before him. The towers of the collegiate church dedicated to St Vulfran are drawn in detail at centre, rising above the traditional buildings which line the walkway. A bustle of figures peoples the foreground. For other drawings of Abbeville, including Turner’s studies of the church in this sketchbook, see Tate D18582, D19931–D19933, D19935, D19937, D19943, D19945–D19948, D20116–D20117; Turner Bequest CCXI 37a, CCXVI 190a–191a, 192a, 193a, 196a, 197a–199, CCXVII 22–23 and Tate Impression T04763.