Turner sketched two views of towns on the Seine along the entire length of this page, with the bottom sketch inverted in relation to the sketchbook as foliated. The tall spire screened from the nearby river by trees and buildings in the top drawing locates the scene at Caudebec-en-Caux, Normandy. Caudebec and its church, of all the Seine valley sights, were the subject of particular study in this sketchbook. For a list of associated sketches, see the main entry for folio 17 recto (
D23550; Turner Bequest CCLII 17). For examples of the watercolours of Caudebec that Turner worked up with a view to engraved reproduction around this time, see Tate
D20235 (Turner Bequest CCXXI B),
D24670 (Turner Bequest CCLIX 105),
D24760 (Turner Bequest CCLIX 195), and
D24818 (Turner Bequest CCLIX 253). These 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
T05601.The bottom sketch, featuring a settlement protruding into the river beneath some hills, may represent the nearby village of Villequier. For a comparison, see Turner’s watercolour on this subject from around the same date: Tate
D24669 (Turner Bequest CCLIX 104).
