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

With the sketchbook turned horizontally, Turner filled this page with studies of the varied architectural structures which line the quaysides of central Paris. In addition to the large classical building on the right-hand side of the page and the crowded terraces in the upper left-hand quadrant, Turner has taken a study of the Pont Neuf in the lower left-hand quadrant with its statue of Henry IV and the tower of Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois rising above surrounding rooftops. Turner made several sketches of the riverside in the present volume, a list of which is provided in the sketchbook Introduction. For the watercolours of the city’s quaysides which Turner worked up with a view to engraved reproduction around this time, see Tate D24683–D24685 (Turner Bequest CCLIX 118–20). These culminated in several engravings in the 1835 volume of Turner’s Annual Tour: Wanderings by the Loire and Seine (1833–5; later reissued as Rivers of France); see Tate impressions T05621–T05623.