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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Northern France 1832 > Paris and Environs Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Buildings with a Church Tower, Northern France 1832

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Buildings with a Church Tower, Northern France’ 1832
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 91 Recto:
Buildings with a Church Tower, Northern France 1832
D24345
Turner Bequest CCLVII 91
Pencil on white laid paper, 175 x 127 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in blue ink ‘91’ bottom right and ‘2’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCLVII 91’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the sketchbook turned horizontally, Turner filled the top half of this page with a view of clustered town buildings. A modest church tower typical of the medieval architecture of northern France is included in the top left-hand corner of the page. Turner travelled extensively around the satellite settlements of Paris with this sketchbook and also up the River Marne to the east of the city, so this scene was probably captured in one of the towns in those regions.

John Chu
January 2015

How to cite

John Chu, ‘Buildings with a Church Tower, Northern France 1832 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, January 2015, 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-buildings-with-a-church-tower-northern-france-r1175373, accessed 19 April 2024.