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

This sheet is one of a series of sketches associated with a tour of the Seine with a proposed dating of 1827–9. The studies are characterised by the use of pen and ink on blue paper; for more information see the Introduction to this section.

The view shows the commune of Marly-le-Roi, or Marly-sur-Seine. For further information and a list of other studies of Marly catalogued within this section see D24837 (Turner Bequest CCLX 1). As the Turner scholar Andrew Wilton first stated1, the present study appears to have been used in the creation of a finished composition for The Keepsake, which was engraved by William Miller (1796–1882) in 1832. A related colour beginning of c.1829–30 also exists (Tate D25152; Turner Bequest CCLXIII 30)

The study is one of a small group catalogued within this section to have been made in a panoramic format, with each sheet measuring around 9.5 by 28 cm; Turner did not retain this format in his finished Keepsake design. For other studies in this format see Tate D24893, D24895–D24896, D24899–D24900, D24904–D24905 (Turner Bequest CCLX 57, 59–60, 63–64 68–69). As Warrell has noted, while the popularity of the panoramic format during Turner’s day may at first glance make this appear unsurprising, it was format Turner rarely used; other exceptions include some of Turner’s depictions of Petworth.2 Turner possessed a copy of Thomas Girtin’s Twenty Views of Paris, and it seems very possible that the panoramic format Seine studies took some heed of them.3 For more information, see the Introduction to this section.

Verso:

According to Warrell, the verso of this sheet is inscribed ‘Marly’ and, by Ruskin, ‘74’1; the sheet has since been laid down on heavy paper and the verso could not be examined at the time of cataloguing.