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

Drawn at the top of the page is a sketch inscribed ‘Chateau Marle’ depicting Château de la Mailleraye at La Mailleraye-sur-Seine. Having made this sketch, Turner flipped over the page and made a second sketch of the château as he drew closer: folio 8 (Tate D24514; Turner Bequest CCLVIII 8). Returning to the Seine in 1832 Turner would once again draw the château in the Seine and Paris sketchbook, 1832 (Tate D24025; Turner Bequest CCLIV 73). Turner referred to these sketches when he painted a watercolour and gouache on blue paper design for the Turner’s Annual Tour publication (1834): Château de la Mailleraye, c.1832 (private collection) (see engraving: Tate T05608).1

Caudebec-en-Caux is depicted in the second and third sketches with the distinctive tower of its Gothic church, seen more clearly in the second sketch which was made from closer to the town as Turner sailed down-river towards Le Havre. The same two sailing boats can be seen in both sketches. Further sketches of Caudebec are on folios 7 verso–8 and 14 (Tate D24513–D24514, D24526; Turner Bequest CCLVIII 7a–8, 14).2

The fourth sketch down depicts buildings on a quayside with a cliff at the left, beneath which Turner has made several small studies of figures at work. At the bottom of the page is a distant view of the northern bank of the Seine, tapering out to Cap de la Hève (see folio 24; Tate D24545; Turner Bequest CCLVIII 24).