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

The page contains three separate horizontal sketches at the top, centre and bottom, drawn with the page turned upside down. The sketches continue to the right onto the inside of the front cover opposite (D41080). Finberg suggested that the sketches might be of the town of Harfleur,1 and this location has been confirmed.2 The top and centre sketches depict a tower, from its shape identifiable as that of the Church of Saint-Martin, in Harfleur (for further information on the church, see under folio 2 verso, D23702).

Harfleur is a town in northern France, in the Normandy region, on the estuary of the River Seine. It was the principal seaport in north-western France until the nearby port of Le Havre was built in the sixteenth century. Harfleur was besieged by the English under Henry V in 1415; its name is of Viking origin, and means ‘the high port’, in contrast to the nearby town of Honfleur, on the opposite bank of the Seine, meaning ‘the low port’.3

Turner conveys two street-views, in the top and centre sketches, in each case concentrating on the shape of the church and the buildings immediately below and to the right of it, respectively. The bottom sketch is less distinct but indicates the church, from a greater distance, at far right.