'The Wellhorn and Rosenlaui Glacier from below Rosenlaui', Joseph Mallord William Turner

Artwork details

Artist

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775‑1851)

Title

The Wellhorn and Rosenlaui Glacier from below Rosenlaui

From Lake Thun Sketchbook

Turner Bequest LXXVI

Date 1802

MediumGraphite on paper

Dimensionssupport: 156 x 201 mm

Collection

Tate

Acquisition Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856

Reference

D04700

Turner Bequest LXXVI 43

View this artwork by appointment, at Tate Britain's Prints and Drawings Rooms

Turner's sketchbooks

View this artwork in the Lake Thun Sketchbook

Catalogue entry

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851

Folio 43 Recto:

The Wellhorn and Rosenlaui Glacier from below Rosenlaui 1802

D04700
Turner Bequest LXXVI 43

Pencil on white laid paper, 156 x 201 mm
Inscribed by Turner in brown ink ‘F’ bottom left
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘43’ bottom right, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘LXXVI 43’ bottom right

Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856

References

Turner crossed the Great Scheidegg pass from Grindelwald to Meiringen, for which see folios 45, 46 of this sketchbook (D04702, D04703), then descended to the valley of Rosenlaui and the Reichanbach falls. Here, as identified by David Hill, he is looking back up the valley towards the Wellhorn at centre – with the mid-afternoon sun directly above – the Rosenlaui glacier and Barglistock to left and the Wetterhorn at right. As Finberg noted, the initial ‘F’ would indicate a commission from Walter Fawkes for a finished version of this subject. This was never carried out and conceivably the leaf was initialled in error, the intention being to reserve the subject on folio 41 (D04698) which is not marked in this way but was worked up for Fawkes.

Verso:

Blank

Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘592’ top left, descending vertically

David Blayney Brown
March 2004

Read this catalogue entry in full

This catalogue entry is part of: David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, December 2012.