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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and French ... > Holland, Meuse and Cologne Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Views of the Porte Gayole, Boulogne; the Telegraph Tower on the Western Pier 1825

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Views of the Porte Gayole, Boulogne; the Telegraph Tower on the Western Pier’ 1825
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 10 Recto:
Views of the Porte Gayole, Boulogne; the Telegraph Tower on the Western Pier 1825
D19418
Turner Bequest CCXV 10
Pencil on white wove paper, 189 x 113 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Porte Gayolle’ towards top left, and ‘P[... de ?Mort]’ below centre
Inscribed by John Ruskin in blue ink ‘10’ top left and ‘277’ top right, both ascending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCXV – 10’ top right, ascending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the page turned vertically both ways, there are three sketches divided by horizontal pencil lines. At the top is a careful study of the Porte Gayole, helpfully labelled by Turner with a slightly different spelling and correctly identified by Finberg.1 It faces south-east along the walls of Boulogne’s elevated old town along what is now the Boulevard du Prince Albert. The houses then rising immediately above the twin semi-circular towers, as seen in old photographs, have been demolished.
Below is a view from further back, bringing in the southern corner of the walls down the slope and the sea in the distance, a prospect now obscured by buildings and trees, and the top of the Belfry (the Beffroi) to the right of the gateway. The reading of the note in the foreground, perhaps from adjacent signage, is unclear. There is a wider view from the countryside south-east of the Porte Gayole on folio 11 recto (D19419). Other medieval gateways around the walls are studied on folios 11 verso and 80 verso (D19420, D19537).
The other way up below is a cursory outline of the lost telegraph tower on Boulogne’s western harbour pier, as seen on folio 9 recto (D19417) and most clearly on folio 20 recto (D19435), under which other views of it are noted.
1
See Finberg 1909, II, p.
Verso:
Blank

Matthew Imms
September 2020

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Views of the Porte Gayole, Boulogne; the Telegraph Tower on the Western Pier 1825 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2020, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, March 2023, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-views-of-the-porte-gayole-boulogne-the-telegraph-tower-on-r1202773, accessed 24 November 2024.