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

The page contains a sketch, drawn horizontally, of the collegiate church, Collégiale Notre-Dame, at Poissy. Finberg noted it simply as ‘Town’,1 but the location has been confirmed as of Poissy.2 (For further information on the town, see under folio 86 recto; D23868.)

The church dates from the twelfth century and is a rare example of the transition from Romanesque to Gothic style.3 Turner renders the architectural and decorative elements in some detail. At left he has also depicted a building with rounded towers, recognisable as the former Priory of Saint-Louis of Poissy (in present times a museum of toys), dating from the fourteenth century; however, this building is in reality located several metres further away from the Collégiale Notre-Dame than it is portrayed.