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

Here Turner sketches the Belgian city of Liège from the water’s edge, on the banks of the Meuse. Small wooden rowing boats and river barges are docked in the sand at foreground and beyond is the crescent arc of a parade of buildings overlooking the river. In the distance, towards right, is the barracks of Saint-Laurent, situated atop the Publémont hill to the west of the city. Formerly a Benedictine abbey established in the early eleventh century, the monastery was converted into a military barracks during the Liège Revolution of 1789–91.1

For other views of the city taken in 1824 see Tate D19598, D19636–D19638, D20061–D20064, D20095–D20103; Turner Bequest CCXVI 24, 43a–44a, 260a–262, CCXVII 8–12). See also the Holland, Meuse and Cologne sketchbook of 1825 (Tate D19446–D19447, D19520–D19521; Turner Bequest CCXV 25a–26, 71a–72); and the Holland sketchbook of the same date (Tate D19160; Turner Bequest CCXIV 162). There are also drawings of Liège in the 1833 Brussels up to Mannheim-Rhine sketchbook (Tate D29669–D29670, D29673; Turner Bequest CCXCVI 37a–38, 39a). For pencil and colour studies produced in 1839 see Tate D24664, D20283, D28068, D28070–D28074, D28076; Turner Bequest CCLIX 99, CCXXII X, CCLXXXVII 14, 15–17, 18