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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1836-47 Modern painter > Tour to the Alps 1836 > Val d'Aosta Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Distant View of Laon 1836

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Distant View of Laon’ 1836
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 9 Recto:
A Distant View of Laon 1836
D29048
Turner Bequest CCXCIII 9
Pencil on white wove paper, 113 x 190 mm
Inscribed, possibly by John Ruskin, in blue ink ‘9’ bottom left, inverted, and ‘320’ top left, inverted
Stamped in brown ‘CCXCIII 9’ top left, inverted
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The town sketched here is Laon, with the Cathedral of Notre Dame, seen from the north-west. The subject is similar to that on the facing page (D29047; Turner Bequest CCXCIII 8a), but is taken from a more distant viewpoint and was probably Turner’s first impression as he approached from St Quentin. The sketch is inverted in relation to the main sequence of subjects in the sketchbook.

David Hill
June 2010

How to cite

David Hill, ‘A Distant View of Laon 1836 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, June 2010, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, February 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-a-distant-view-of-laon-r1144597, accessed 21 November 2024.