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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > First Italian Tour 1819-20 > Return from Italy Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Lyon from the River Saône to the South 1820

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Lyon from the River Saône to the South’ 1820
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 38 Recto:
Lyon from the River Saône to the South 1820
D16713
Turner Bequest CXCII 37
Pencil on white wove paper, 98 x 128 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘T[...]’ bottom left and ‘3 Soldats [?pel...] dead Horses Bloody Ribs’ bottom centre
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘37 top right, ascending right-hand edge
Stamped in black ‘CXCII 37’ top right, ascending right-hand edge
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
These two views of Lyon have been drawn from the banks of the River Saône to the south of the city. Visible in both prospects are the domes of the historic hospital, the Hôtel Dieu (right) and the arches of the Pont du Change, a stone bridge which connected Presqu’île (peninsula between the Rivers Saône and Rhône) to the Vieux Lyon (Old Town) but which was demolished during the mid-nineteenth century. The lower vista also depicts the Fourvière hill on the left and Turner has further embellished the details of the drawing with a note concerning an incident he had observed of ‘3 soldats [French for soldiers]’ standing beside ‘dead horses’ with ‘bloody ribs’.
For further sketches of Lyon see folio 37 verso (D16712; Turner Bequest CXCII 36a).

Nicola Moorby
April 2013

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Lyon from the River Saône to the South 1820 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, August 2013, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-lyon-from-the-river-saone-to-the-south-r1142613, accessed 10 May 2024.