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

Engraved:
By William Radclyffe in 1834, published in 1835.

In this watercolour, Turner depicts the flower market, the Marché aux Fleurs, on the banks of the river Seine, in Paris, France. The Pont au Change bridge spans the mid-ground. Turner places the viewer in the heart of Parisian activity. The foreground is filled with figures engaged in the market. The buildings of Paris, including the Louvre and Tuileries palaces, stretch off into the background as far as the eye can see. Turner conveys the scene in lilac-grey shadows and sparkling highlights. The Conciergerie building on the left is almost in silhouette whereas light falls over the bustling figures in the foreground and illuminates the buildings in the right background. Contrasting lilac and auburn tones shape the arches of the Pont au Change bridge and the Pont Neuf bridge behind. These colours and light suggest evening beginning to fall over the city.

The watercolour is based on a pencil sketch (Tate D24298; Turner Bequest CCLVII 67a)1 from Turner’s Paris and Environs sketchbook of 1832.

An engraving was made of this watercolour by William Radclyffe, as Marché aux Fleurs and the Pont au Change (Tate impressions T04721, T05622 and T06259) for the volume Wanderings by the Seine of 1835.2

Verso:

Previous records note inscriptions in gouache ‘14 | Paris’ and in pencil ‘15’; however, at time of writing the watercolour was on display and the back therefore not available for examination and confirmation.