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

With the page turned vertically both ways, there are three sketches divided by horizontal pencil lines. At the top is a careful study of the Porte Gayole, helpfully labelled by Turner with a slightly different spelling and correctly identified by Finberg.1 It faces south-east along the walls of Boulogne’s elevated old town along what is now the Boulevard du Prince Albert. The houses then rising immediately above the twin semi-circular towers, as seen in old photographs, have been demolished.

Below is a view from further back, bringing in the southern corner of the walls down the slope and the sea in the distance, a prospect now obscured by buildings and trees, and the top of the Belfry (the Beffroi) to the right of the gateway. The reading of the note in the foreground, perhaps from adjacent signage, is unclear. There is a wider view from the countryside south-east of the Porte Gayole on folio 11 recto (D19419). Other medieval gateways around the walls are studied on folios 11 verso and 80 verso (D19420, D19537).

The other way up below is a cursory outline of the lost telegraph tower on Boulogne’s western harbour pier, as seen on folio 9 recto (D19417) and most clearly on folio 20 recto (D19435), under which other views of it are noted.

Verso:

Blank