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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Mâcon from Saint-Laurent-sur-Saône 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 28 Recto:
Mâcon from Saint-Laurent-sur-Saône 1819
D14032
Turner Bequest CLXXIII 28
Pencil on white wove paper, 114 x 185 mm
Stamped in black ‘CLXXIII 28’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This sketch depicts Mâcon, a city on the River Saône approximately forty-five miles north of Lyon. Turner’s viewpoint is from the village of Saint Laurent-sur-Saône on the opposite side of the river. On the right-hand side is the historic Pont de Saint-Laurent (Bridge of St Lawrence) and the artist has continued the drawing of the end of the bridge in the top right-hand corner. The vista looks up west towards the houses lining the quayside at the centre of Mâcon. Sketches like this one, and a related study of the eastern end of the bridge on folio 29 (D14034), suggest that Turner must have disembarked from the boat in which he was travelling, for a short time at least.
For further studies of Mâcon see folio 27 (D14030).

Nicola Moorby
March 2013

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Mâcon from Saint-Laurent-sur-Saône 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, March 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-macon-from-saint-laurent-sur-saone-r1142892, accessed 19 September 2024.