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

This very faint drawing shows a panoramic view of some tree-lined formal gardens, with various architectural adornments and statues dotted around the landscape. Two figures wearing bonnets occupy the space in the foreground, one of whom appears to be reclining. A number of other figures are visible throughout the scene.

In his 1909 Inventory of the Turner Bequest, A.J. Finberg identified the subject as The Tuileries Gardens in Paris.1 The imprecision of the drawing means that a conclusive identification is difficult, although the scene is certainly reminiscent of the type of urban leisure setting the Tuileries gardens offered to nineteenth-century Parisians and tourists. Finberg listed the work among a sequence of drawings on blue paper, which he described as ‘mostly connected with the “French Rivers” series’, which, of course, included views of Paris (see the Introduction to this section for an overview of the details and relevance of Finberg’s classification of these works).2

Another view of Paris within Finberg’s CCLX blue paper grouping (Tate D24915; Turner Bequest CCLX 79), has since been identified as showing the Pont Royal, which is located immediately adjacent to the Tuileries, perhaps endorsing Finberg’s identification further.

Verso:

Blank, except for inscription in pencil ‘CCLX 124’ top centre towards left.