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

Turner oriented the sketchbook vertically to jot down these notes. As noted by Finberg in his 1909 Inventory of the Turner Bequest, many of the scrawled inscriptions are ‘undecipherable’, especially towards the bottom of the page, although a few phrases can be made out.1

Turner was evidently in France, perhaps in Paris, either on the outward or return leg of his journey. A couple of the more legible lines refer to addresses, including the ‘4 Rue Ramparte’ and ‘57 Rue [...]’, whereas another inscription reads ‘meeting 1 oclock’. Towards the top of the page, there appears to be a reference to the ‘Duke Dalmeny’. The first address was perhaps on the Rue du Rempart (sic) in central Paris, demolished later in the century to make way for the Avenue de l’Opera.

Prior to twentieth-century restoration work, these notes may have originally continued directly across what is now the sketchbook’s rear paste-down (D41239); see the technical notes in the sketchbook’s Introduction.