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

D23336–D23456; D41071–D41073

Turner Bequest CCL

Sketchbook bound in dark blue cardboard
62 leaves of white laid paper
Watermark ‘LMV’
Approximate page size 191 x 131 mm

Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856

Bound in dark blue cardboard covers, this French-made pocket sketchbook contains pencil drawings of the coast, countryside, and picturesque buildings of the Cotentin Peninsula in Normandy. The tour on which Turner made use of this volume has not always been clear. In 1987, Tate curator Andrew Wilton listed it alongside the Caen and Isigny (Turner Bequest CCLI), Rouen (Turner Bequest CCLV) and Guernsey (CCLII) sketchbooks as part of material gathered on an 1829 visit to Northern France, and the Channel Islands.1 However, the present catalogue follows the 1826 dating first proposed by art historian Nicholas Alfrey in 1983,2 and subsequently seconded by Turner specialists Ian Warrell and J.R. Piggott.3 Responding to archival evidence uncovered by Normandy historian Jean-Paul Pasquette, which places Turner in the Hôtel de London in Cherbourg on Saturday 9^th September 1826, Warrell is sure that that there should ‘be absolutely no doubt that this book records that year’s tour’ because the inside front cover (D41071) bears the note ‘Cherbourg Dimanche’, indicative of his activity there on the subsequent day.

Warrell suggests that the contents of this volume cover an intermediary stage in a longer tour of Northern France, following a journey though Upper Normandy, and prior to a tour up the Loire Valley to Paris.5 The itinerary Warrell proposes is as follows: Cherbourg, Saint-Vaast-La-Hougue, Valonges, Coutances, Granville, Avranches, and Mont Saint-Michel. Whatever his precise route, Turner was certainly not systematic in the order by which he recorded the sites he encountered along the way and the most frequently recurring subjects are scattered through the volume at random. The drawings are mainly loose in handling, suggesting rapid notations of interesting motifs. However, some of the architectural studies, especially those describing heavily-decorated ornamental facades, feature considerable detail. For an example of Turner’s more careful architectural studies in this sketchbook, see Folio 10 Recto (D23353; Turner Bequest CCL 10).

At the defended harbour towns of Cherbourg and Saint-Vaast-La-Hougue, Turner filled several pages of his sketchbook. For the drawings of Cherbourg, see Folios 2 Recto to 3 Recto (D23338–D23340; Turner Bequest CCL 2–3); 59 Verso (D23450; Turner Bequest CCL 59a). For Saint-Vaast-La-Hougue, see Folios 34 Verso (D23400; Turner Bequest CCL 34a); 50 Recto (D23431; Turner Bequest CCL 50); 3 Verso (D23438; Turner Bequest CCL 53a).

Much more prolific were his studies of the medieval towns of Coutances and Granville, perched in their picturesque surroundings, and his views of the dramatic island-settlement of Mont Saint-Michel. The Coutances studies focus on the gothic cathedral and the ruined aqueduct, sketched at close quarters and in wider landscape pieces. These are found on Folios 4 Verso (D23343; Turner Bequest CCL 4a); 8 Recto (D23350; Turner Bequest CCL 8); 9 Recto (D23352; Turner Bequest CCL 9); Folio 10 Recto (D23353; Turner Bequest CCL 10); 12 Recto (D23356; Turner Bequest CCL 12); 16 Recto (D23364; Turner Bequest CCL 16); 21 Verso (D23374; Turner Bequest CCL 21a); 28 Recto (D23387; Turner Bequest CCL 28); 31 Recto (D23393; Turner Bequest CCL 31); 32 Verso (D23396; Turner Bequest CCL 32a); 33 Recto (D23397; Turner Bequest CCL 33); 45 Verso (D23422; Turner Bequest CCL 45a); 51 Verso (D23434; Turner Bequest CCL 51a); 52 Recto to 53 Recto (D23435–D23457; Turner Bequest CCL 52–53.

At Granville, Turner took a particular interest in the way in which the town sits atop its rocky cliffs and made sketches from multiple angles. These can be found on Folio 5 Verso (D23345; Turner Bequest CCL 5a); Folio 6 Recto (D23346; Turner Bequest CCL 6); Folio 7 Recto (D23348; Turner Bequest CCL 7); Folio 7 Verso (D23349; Turner Bequest CCL 7a); Folio 15 Recto (D23362; Turner Bequest CCL 15); Folio 19 Verso (D23370; Turner Bequest CCL 19a); Folio 35 Recto (D23401; Turner Bequest CCL 35); Folio 38 Recto (D23407; Turner Bequest CCL 38).

Mont Saint-Michel is thoroughly observed in these pages, and Turner took care to record the island from a great number of directions and distances. The pages on which the island features are Folios 53 Recto (D23437; Turner Bequest CCL 53); 55 Verso (D23442; Turner Bequest CCL 55a); 58 Verso (D23448; Turner Bequest CCL 58a); 59 Recto (D23449; Turner Bequest CCL 59); 16 Verso (D23365; Turner Bequest CCL 16a); 17 Recto to 19 Recto (D23366- D23369; Turner Bequest CCL 17–19); 23 Verso to 28 Recto (D23378–D23387; Turner Bequest CCL 23a-28); 30 Verso (D23392; Turner Bequest CCL 30a); 31 Verso (D23394; Turner Bequest CCL 31a); 39 Recto (D23409; Turner Bequest CCL 39); 53 Recto (D23437; Turner Bequest CCL 53).