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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Switzerland 1802 > France, Savoy, Piedmont Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Mountains and Bridge outside Bonneville 1802

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Mountains and Bridge outside Bonneville’ 1802
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 46 Recto:
Mountains and Bridge outside Bonneville 1802
D04440
Turner Bequest LXXIII 46
Pencil, lightly touched with white chalk on grey-buff laid paper, 138 x 215 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘nr. Bonvil’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘LXXIII 46’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
In 1802, Bonneville was about four hours by coach from Geneva. Turner passed through it on his way down the Arve valley towards the Mont Blanc region. With spectacular views towards the massif, it was regarded in Turner’s day as the gateway to the Alps and he paused to give it some concentrated attention. The four quick sketches in this sketchbook – the two on this sheet (verso, D04441) and on folios 47 and 48 (D04442, D04443) – record his first reactions to the mountainscape beyond the town as he approached it from the Geneva road, and he also made two larger drawings in his St Gothard and Mont Blanc sketchbook (Tate D04599; Turner Bequest LXXV 7, and D04608; Turner Bequest LXXV 16).

David Blayney Brown
June 2004

How to cite

David Blayney Brown, ‘Mountains and Bridge outside Bonneville 1802 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, June 2004, 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-mountains-and-bridge-outside-bonneville-r1133069, accessed 18 April 2024.