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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Normandy ?1829 > Tancarville and Lillebonne Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Honfleur, with a View of the Lieutenancy Building ?1829

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Honfleur, with a View of the Lieutenancy Building’ ?1829
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 15 Recto:
Honfleur, with a View of the Lieutenancy Building ?1829
D23726
Turner Bequest CCLIII 15
Pencil on pale cream laid paper, 107 x 156 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘[?Peinture – Robert Ailly]’ and ‘[?Couleurade]’ towards bottom right, and ‘w’ towards top right, descending vertically
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘15’ top right ascending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCLIII – 15’ top right ascending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The page contains two sketches. The first, drawn horizontally, fills the page and is of a street scene. The second is a small sketch on the upper right corner, drawn vertically. Finberg noted the subject simply as ‘Houses beside river’,1 but the location has been identified as Honfleur.2 (For further information on Honfleur, see under folio 1 recto; D23699.)
Art historian Ian Warrell notes3 that this sketch was used, together with the verso (D23727), as a preliminary sketch, along with reference to folios 14 verso and 17 recto (D23725, D23730), for Turner’s later watercolour, The Lieutenancy Building at Honfleur, Normandy, c.1832 (Tate D24641; Turner Bequest CCLIX 76). The Lieutenancy building is identifiable by its distinctive shape and turrets (for further information, see under folio 14 verso; D23725). Turner concentrates on the shape of this building and the crenellated remnants of the city wall below it, as well as on details of the buildings at top right.
Turner has noted some text at bottom right which appears to read ‘Peinture – Robert Ailly’ and at further right ‘Couleurade’, which could possibly indicate his jotting down the name of a supplier of colouring materials; however the text is too indecipherable to draw any concrete conclusions. The vertical sketch is of a lighthouse, and appears to have a letter ‘w’ marked below it.
Some lines of the sketch on folio 14 verso opposite (D23725) continue onto this page at bottom right.

Caroline South
May 2017

1
Finberg 1909, II, p.768.
2
Warrell 1999, pp.110, 259 note 34, p.269 no.69, pp.110, 114, 259 note 34, p.260 note.40, p.269 no.69; ?Ian Warrell, ‘Turner on the Seine: Topographical Index’, c.1999, Prints and Drawings Room, Tate Britain (printout in copy of Warrell 1999), p.3.
3
Warrell 1999, pp.110, 259 note 34, p.269 no.69 pp.110, 114, 259 note 34, p.260 note.40, p.269 no.69.

How to cite

Caroline South, ‘Honfleur, with a View of the Lieutenancy Building ?1829 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2017, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2019, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-honfleur-with-a-view-of-the-lieutenancy-building-r1195632, accessed 19 May 2024.