Joseph Mallord William Turner

View up the Meuse towards Dinant (Left) and Bouvignes and the Castle of Crèvecoeur (Right); Distant View of Louvain; Detail of a Fort

1839

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

View by appointment
Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
Spa, Dinant and Namur Sketchbook
Medium
Graphite on paper
Dimensions
Support: 94 x 154 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D28058
Turner Bequest CCLXXXVII 9

Catalogue entry

Despite Turner’s inscribing this sketch ‘Bauvill up [to] Dinant’, it is likely, as Alexander Finberg notes, that the artist was actually referring to the town of Bouvignes-sur-Meuse, a few kilometres downstream from Dinant.1
With the sketchbook turned horizontally Turner has drawn a profile of the town of Dinant nestled in the Meuse valley from upstream near Bouvignes. Dinant is identifiable by the onion-shaped dome and lantern of the Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame, diminutive in the distance on the left. The ruins of the medieval Castle of Crèvecoeur at Bouvignes is to the right of Dinant in the foreground and extends onto folio 8 verso opposite (Tate D28057; Turner Bequest CCLXXXVII 8 a). There is a gouache and watercolour drawing of a similar prospect taken from a closer perspective at sunset (Tate D20228; Turner Bequest CCXX U). For other views of Dinant and neighbouring Bouvignes in this sketchbook see Tate D28094, D28138–D28139, D28158, D28161; Turner Bequest CCLXXXVII 27a, 51, 51a, 62a, 64; see also the verso of folio 52 in the earlier Rivers Meuse and Moselle sketchbook of 1824 (Tate D19654; Turner Bequest CCXVI 52a).
Below the sketch of Dinant, on the central register, is a view of what Cecilia Powell identifies as Louvain. Though the handling is rough, Turner appears to have suggested the outline of the spire of the Church of St Quentin on the left and the Gothic Town Hall and the Church of St Peter towards the right.
The last sketch, a detail of a fort, has been taken with the sketchbook inverted relative to the foliation. Turner depicts a citadel high on a rocky promontory, perhaps the fortress at Dinant which crowns the monolith Roche à Bayard.

Alice Rylance-Watson
April 2013

1
Finberg 1909, vol.II, p.916.

Read full Catalogue entry

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Dinant, Looking Upstream from the Castle of Crèvecoeur; The Castle of Crèvecoeur and the Church of Bouvignes, Looking Downstream from the Hillside opposite Dinant; Dinant, Looking Downstream from the Roche à Bayard’ 1839

Joseph Mallord William Turner Dinant, Looking Upstream from the Castle of Crèvecoeur; The Castle of Crèvecoeur and the Church of Bouvignes, Looking Downstream from the Hillside opposite Dinant; Dinant, Looking Downstream from the Roche à Bayard

1839
View by appointment D28161
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Distant Views of Bouvignes and the Castle of Crèvecoeur, Looking up the Meuse to Dinant’ 1824

Joseph Mallord William Turner Distant Views of Bouvignes and the Castle of Crèvecoeur, Looking up the Meuse to Dinant

1824
D19654
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Dinant, Bouvignes and Crèvecoeur: Sunset’ c.1839

Joseph Mallord William Turner Dinant, Bouvignes and Crèvecoeur: Sunset

c.1839
D20228
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Four Views Looking Upstream to Dinant and Bouvignes and the Castle of Crèvecoeur’ 1839

Joseph Mallord William Turner Four Views Looking Upstream to Dinant and Bouvignes and the Castle of Crèvecoeur

1839
View by appointment D28158
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Dinant, Looking Downstream from the Hillside, South of the Town, with Bouvignes and the Castle of Crèvecoeur Seen in the Distance’ 1839

Joseph Mallord William Turner Dinant, Looking Downstream from the Hillside, South of the Town, with Bouvignes and the Castle of Crèvecoeur Seen in the Distance

1839
View by appointment D28094
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Detail: Crèvecoeur; Dinant, Looking Upstream; Crèvecoeur and Bouvignes, Looking Upstream; Dinant, Bouvignes and Crèvecoeur, Looking Upstream’ 1824

Joseph Mallord William Turner Detail: Crèvecoeur; Dinant, Looking Upstream; Crèvecoeur and Bouvignes, Looking Upstream; Dinant, Bouvignes and Crèvecoeur, Looking Upstream

1824
D19655
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Huy and its Citadel from the Hillside to the West, Looking Downstream; The Castle of Crèvecoeur and the Church of Bouvignes, Looking Downstream from the Hill opposite Dinant’ 1839

Joseph Mallord William Turner Huy and its Citadel from the Hillside to the West, Looking Downstream; The Castle of Crèvecoeur and the Church of Bouvignes, Looking Downstream from the Hill opposite Dinant

1839
View by appointment D28139
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Overlapping Views on the Meuse Including Three of Chokier, Looking Upstream’ 1824

Joseph Mallord William Turner Overlapping Views on the Meuse Including Three of Chokier, Looking Upstream

1824
D19612
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Dinant, Looking Upstream from the Castle of Crèvecoeur above Bouvignes’ 1839

Joseph Mallord William Turner Dinant, Looking Upstream from the Castle of Crèvecoeur above Bouvignes

1839
View by appointment D28138
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Sketch Map of the Meuse between Givet and Dinant; Part of a Fort’ 1824

Joseph Mallord William Turner Sketch Map of the Meuse between Givet and Dinant; Part of a Fort

1824
D19554
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘View down the Meuse from Jambes towards the Citadel of Namur and the Pont de Jambes’ 1839

Joseph Mallord William Turner View down the Meuse from Jambes towards the Citadel of Namur and the Pont de Jambes

1839
View by appointment D28120
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Dinant, Looking Upstream from the Eastern Bank; Bouvignes and Crèvecoeur, Looking Downstream; Distant View of Dinant, Looking Upstream’ 1824

Joseph Mallord William Turner Dinant, Looking Upstream from the Eastern Bank; Bouvignes and Crèvecoeur, Looking Downstream; Distant View of Dinant, Looking Upstream

1824
D19659
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Five Views on the Meuse between Chokier and Flône’ 1824

Joseph Mallord William Turner Five Views on the Meuse between Chokier and Flône

1824
D19617
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘(1) (2) The Heimburg and Church of Maria Himmelfahrt, Neiderheimbach, Looking Downstream; (3) View down the Rhine towards the Heimburg and Burg Fürstenberg (Left) and Burg Nollig and Lorch (Right); (4) View up the Rhine towards Burg Sooneck’ 1833

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1) (2) The Heimburg and Church of Maria Himmelfahrt, Neiderheimbach, Looking Downstream; (3) View down the Rhine towards the Heimburg and Burg Fürstenberg (Left) and Burg Nollig and Lorch (Right); (4) View up the Rhine towards Burg Sooneck

1833
View by appointment D29731
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Distant View of the Castle of Chokier on the Meuse, Looking Upstream; View near Chokier’ 1824

Joseph Mallord William Turner Distant View of the Castle of Chokier on the Meuse, Looking Upstream; View near Chokier

1824
D19611