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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Géronstère Mineral Spring at Spa c.1839

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
The Géronstère Mineral Spring at Spa c.1839
D24745
Turner Bequest CCLIX 180
Gouache, pen and ink and watercolour on blue wove paper, 142 x 190 mm
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCLIX 180’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This gouache and the sketch from which it derives (Tate D28079; Turner Bequest CCLXXXVII 19 a) depict the buildings at the Géronstère mineral spring located in verdant wooded hills approximately two miles south of Spa, Belgium. The cottage and roofed aedicule marking the spring itself are seen here nestled within a shady plot. Tall trees rendered in loose scalloped line sway languorously in a light breeze and visitors can be seen taking leisurely strolls in the grounds.

The palette is comprised of blue-grey, white and yellow and is similar in terms of hue and application to other of Turner’s gouaches of Spa (see, for example, Tate D24780; Turner Bequest CCLIX 215). The pigment is applied roughly, in broad gestural streaks and sections, over which Turner has drawn the scene in pen and black ink line.
Verso:
Inscribed in pencil ‘CCLIX 180’ at bottom right.

Alice Rylance-Watson
June 2013

How to cite

Alice Rylance-Watson, ‘The Géronstère Mineral Spring at Spa c.1839 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, June 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-the-geronstere-mineral-spring-at-spa-r1151009, accessed 28 March 2024.