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 industrial city of Rouen on the banks of the Seine attracted Turner as a subject on a number of occasions. Ian Warrell identified this sheet as a view of one of the city’s thoroughfares, the Quai di Havre, with the outline of the Mont St-Catherine seen in the background.1 A bustling street scene, it gives a sense of the thriving nature of Rouen at this time. The reference to the ‘RA’, perhaps meaning in the Royal Academy, in Turner’s inscription in the lower left remains mysterious: Warrell has suggested that Turner was recalling a comparable view of Rouen seen in the institutions annual exhibition.2

For a list of other studies of Rouen catalogued within this section, see the entry for Tate D24839 (Turner Bequest CCLX 3).

Technical notes:

Although this sheet is part of the Turner Bequest, it was not stamped with a Turner Bequest inventory number or recorded by the Turner Bequest’s first cataloguer, A.J. Finberg. Warrell has queried whether this omission could be the result of confusion with regards to which views of Rouen were exhibited by John Ruskin.1

Verso:

The sheet has been laid down on heavy paper and the verso could not be examined at the time of cataloguing.