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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Northern France c.1826-32 > Rouen, Le Havre, Caen, Bayeux and Isigny ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Coastal Terrain; Town, Normandy 1826

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Coastal Terrain; Town, Normandy’ 1826
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 32 Recto:
Coastal Terrain; Town, Normandy 1826
D23519
Turner Bequest CCLI 32
Pencil on white wove paper, 83 x 122 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil with various numbers across the page and ‘?monday’ centre
Inscribed by John Ruskin in blue ink ‘32’ bottom right, descending vertically, ‘199’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCLI 32’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner filled the upper half this page with sketches of distant coastal landscapes. The seaside of Normandy is the subject of extensive study in this volume so this drawing was probably made in that region. The lower half of the page includes a loose drawing of a town with high towers. These pages feature several medieval Normandy towns and cities, including Bayeux and Rouen, a list of which is included in the sketchbook introduction for comparison.

John Chu
July 2015

How to cite

John Chu, ‘Coastal Terrain; Town, Normandy 1826 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, July 2015, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, March 2017, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-coastal-terrain-town-normandy-r1185362, accessed 12 May 2024.