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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Monro School c.1794-8 > Collaborations with Thomas Girtin for Dr ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Picturesque Composition with Distant View of Blois c.1796

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Picturesque Composition with Distant View of Blois’ c.1796
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Picturesque Composition with Distant View of Blois c.1796
D00674
Turner Bequest XXVII M
Pencil, watercolour and stopping-out on white wove paper, 244 x 346 mm
Stamped in black ‘XXVII M’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Ian Warrell has established that the view is of Blois, and concludes that this sheet, like a similar view of Tours (Tate D00673; Turner Bequest XXVII L), was executed at the behest of Dr Monro from a print in his possession. As in the Tours composition, the foreground appears to have been added from Turner’s imagination; Warrell notes the English flavour of the perfunctorily drawn vernacular buildings in the left foreground. The fact that he took these apparent liberties with the original may indicate that he was not working under Monro, who seems to have expected fairly literal transcriptions of the subjects he set. See also Tate D00724 (Turner Bequest XXIX S).
Verso:
Blank; some blue paint trials; not stamped.

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Picturesque Composition with Distant View of Blois c.1796 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 2012, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-picturesque-composition-with-distant-view-of-blois-r1141303, accessed 20 April 2024.