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

With the sketchbook turned horizontally, Turner filled the central section of this page with a view of the large buildings that line the right bank of the Seine as it flows through Paris. To the right-hand side, the east front of the Louvre can be seen in steep perspective while the tower of the Church of Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois rises above surrounding structures to the right. Turner made several sketches of the riverside in the present volume, a list of which is provided in the sketchbook Introduction. For the watercolours of the city’s quaysides which Turner worked up with a view to engraved reproduction around this time, see Tate D24683–D24685 (Turner Bequest CCLIX 118–20). These culminated in several engravings in the 1835 volume of Turner’s Annual Tour: Wanderings by the Loire and Seine (1833–5; later reissued as Rivers of France); see Tate impressions T05621–T05623.

The smaller views of a town with a long bridge at the bottom and top of the page was taken at Melun, located some thirty miles south-east of central Paris. For a list of the sketches which Turner made in this riverside town, see the sketchbook Introduction. For the watercolour of the town which Turner worked up with a view to engraved reproduction around this time, see Tate D24690 (Turner Bequest CCLIX 125). This led to an illustration in the 1835 volume of Turner’s Annual Tour: Wanderings by the Loire and Seine (1833–5; later reissued as Rivers of France); see Tate impression T04725.