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 > Loose Studies of Northern France > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner 'Carte Itinéraire de la Bretagne': with Inscriptions by Turner and Sketches of Saint Mal, Dinan and Breton Peasants 1826

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘'Carte Itinéraire de la Bretagne': with Inscriptions by Turner and Sketches of Saint Mal, Dinan and Breton Peasants’ 1826
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
'Carte Itinéraire de la Bretagne': with Inscriptions by Turner and Sketches of Saint Mal, Dinan and Breton Peasants 1826
D34922
Turner Bequest CCCXLIV d 426
Engraving and pencil on white laid paper, 515 x 690 mm
Watermark of a circular chain with a pendant
Inscribed by Turner in pencil with various notes (see main entry)
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner probably bought this map, printed in 1799 or 1800, when he had already landed in France for his 1826 tour since travel material relating to Brittany was difficult to acquire in England at this date. 1 He evidently kept the sheet close to hand during the journey since he used its expanses of blank paper to jot down little notes and sketches as he went along.
The top edge of the sheet bears pencil notes, reading ‘Pt L[...]don | Sonany’ and ‘Petit [...]ay’, and notes in the top left left-hand corner read ‘Ju[...]’, ‘M[...]’ and ‘Ca[...]roux’. A notes reads ‘Lan[...]’ on the right-hand edge.
Around the edge of the oval title cartouche in the bottom left-hand corner of the sheet are several figures in the peasant dress of Northern France. These are accompanied by multiple brief notes describing the colour of the costumes depicted.
Within the rectangular cartouche at the bottom of the sheet, and just above it, are little sketches of the settlements of Saint Mal and Dinan which Turner took on the journey from Cherbourg to Morlaix. These are accompanied by cursory notes, reading ‘?Brief p[...]’, ‘Loire’, ‘Landeux’ and ‘[...]il’.
1
Ian Warrell, Turner on the Loire, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1997, p.22.
Verso:
See entry for Tate D34923 (Turner Bequest CCCXLIV 426 v).

John Chu
March 2016

How to cite

John Chu, ‘'Carte Itinéraire de la Bretagne': with Inscriptions by Turner and Sketches of Saint Mal, Dinan and Breton Peasants 1826 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, March 2016, 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-carte-itineraire-de-la-bretagne-with-inscriptions-by-turner-r1185622, accessed 26 April 2024.