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

Engraved:
By William Miller in 1833, published in 1834.

In this watercolour Turner presents a view of the city of Rouen in northern France. Rouen cathedral rises up in the central background. Turner depicts the cathedral’s façade as catching the light and gleaming white. As with another watercolour in this series, Rouen, Looking Upriver,c.1832 (Tate D24672; Turner Bequest CCLIX 107), he includes the cathedral’s old tower which had been destroyed in 1822, and began to be replaced with a metal spire in 1827,1 five years before this watercolour was made. As art historians Martin Butlin, Andrew Wilton and John Gage explain, Turner was concerned to extract the maximum dramatic effect from the height of the tower and therefore ignored its disappearance.2 It is likely Turner based this watercolour on pencil sketches he had made on previous trips before the destruction of the tower (perhaps the one across Tate D24511–D24512,3 and D245424 and D24532;5 respectively Turner Bequest CCLVIII 6a–7, 22a, 17), in his Dieppe, Rouen and Paris sketchbook from the tour of northern France in 1821, as well as possibly the separate studies, Bridge, with Church Towers Beyond; ?Rouen, c.1830 (Tate D24917; Turner Bequest CCLX 81) and The Faubourg Saint-Sever at Rouen, Normandy, c.1832 (Tate D24655; Turner Bequest CCLIX 90).6

To the right of the cathedral, the tower of the Abbey of Saint-Ouen and further right, the Church of Saint-Maclou, are minimally indicated with a few pen strokes and touches of gouache. Similarly as in the companion watercolour (mentioned above), Turner includes the old arched bridge (in some literature referred to as the ‘new stone bridge’) as a major component of the composition.7 Immediately above the bridge, Turner evokes the bulk of the city’s buildings effectively with simple touches of ink and gouache. In the foreground he conveys quiet activity through the figures depicted in boats on the water at right, at shaded stalls on the quayside at left, and fishing in the central foreground.

An engraving was made from this watercolour by William Miller, completed by October 1833, as Rouen (titled ‘Rouen, looking down the river’ in the List of Engravings, Tate impressions T05605 and T06235) for the volume Wanderings by the Seine of 1834.8 In the engraving the light through the left side of the arched bridge and over the quay is emphasised, and Turner’s indications of the church towers at far right are worked into much fuller form.

Verso:

Previous records note ‘inscribed in gouache ‘18’, ‘Rouen’, and in chalk ‘5’ or (‘S’)’ however at the time of writing (November 2017) covered with a closed mount and simply marked ‘No image on the back.’