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

The page contains two sketches, one drawn horizontally and the other, on the left, drawn vertically, some lines continuing left onto folio 15 recto opposite (D23726). Finberg noted this page simply as ‘Harbour’,1 but the location has been identified further as Honfleur.2 (For further information on Honfleur, see under folio 1 recto; D23699.) Art historian Ian Warrell notes3 that this sketch was referred to with folio 17 recto (D23730), along with folios 15 recto and verso (D23726–D23727) as preliminary sketches, for Turner’s later watercolour, The Lieutenancy Building at Honfleur, Normandy, c.1832 (Tate D24641; Turner Bequest CCLIX 76). It appears the vertical sketch was referred to especially for details of the turrets of the Lieutenancy building.

The horizontal sketch shows the harbour. Turner indicates the outlines of a ship on the left, and a lighthouse as well as other buildings on the right, roughly with loose strokes. In the vertical sketch, of buildings, he concentrates on the shape of a turret on the right of the sketch. Such turrets appear on the Lieutenancy building, a sixteenth-century4 building which was the residence of the King’s Lieutenant from the seventeenth century. It is the only remaining important vestige of Honfleur’s town fortifications; it formed part of the rampart which encircled the town.5

Technical notes:

An ink splash stain appears at the far left of the page.