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 > Paris, France, Savoy 2 Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Three Views of Montmélian; Including Two with Mont Blanc in the Distance 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Three Views of Montmélian; Including Two with Mont Blanc in the Distance’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 74 Recto:
Three Views of Montmélian; Including Two with Mont Blanc in the Distance 1819
D14114
Turner Bequest CLXXIII 74
Pencil on white wove paper, 185 x 114 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘Blanc’ within middle sketch
Stamped in black ‘CLXXIII 74’ top right, ascending right-hand edge
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner’s journey through Savoy took him to the regional capital, Chambéry, and east towards Aiguebelle, Lanslebourg and the Mont Cenis pass. This page contains three sketches of Montmélian, a town on the River Isére approximately ten miles east of Chambéry. The uppermost study depicts the vista seen from the seventeenth-century bridge (Pont de l’Isère) looking north towards the ruined fortress of the Dukes of Savoy which stands on a citadel just above the town. The two lower scenes meanwhile represent views looking north-east in the direction of travel along the Val Gelon. As the artist has noted at the top of the middle drawing it is possible to see Mont Blanc rising in the far distance. For further sketches of Montmélian see folios 73 verso and 74 verso (D14113 and D14115).

Nicola Moorby
March 2013

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Three Views of Montmélian; Including Two with Mont Blanc in the Distance 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-three-views-of-montmelian-including-two-with-mont-blanc-in-r1142973, accessed 25 April 2024.