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

This page contains four slight studies from Turner’s two-day boat journey from Lyon to Avignon, all of which were executed with the sketchbook turned horizontally. At the top is a rapid sketch of a steamboat with its paddle wheel on the Rhône. Turner’s depiction of this novel mode of transport affirms his interest in current technological developments.

The three sketches beneath appear to depict the town of Pont-Saint-Esprit, located on the right bank of the Rhône. Spanning the middle of the page is a schematic outline of the town’s medieval bridge, beneath which are two fainter views from a more distant vantage point. This monumental bridge inspired a series of rapid sketches from different viewpoints: see the recto and on folio 3 recto opposite (D20992, D20994), and a more sustained exploration of the subject between folios 32 verso and 35 recto (D21051–D21056; Turner Bequest CCXXX 31a–34).

This subject is out of sequence with the overall itinerary embodied by this sketchbook (see the Introduction), which begins near Lyon and ends near Toulon.