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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > History Painting c.1799-1807 > Calais Pier Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner ?A Mountain Scene with a Cataract c.1802-5

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘?A Mountain Scene with a Cataract’ c.1802-5
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 85 Verso:
?A Mountain Scene with a Cataract c.1802–5
D05070
Turner Bequest LXXXI 168
Black and white chalks on blue laid paper, 436 x 271 mm
Watermarks ‘1794’ Strasburg lily
Stamped in black ‘LXXXI–168’ top right, upside down
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, this slight and confused sketch is difficult to interpret. It has similarities with studies made during Turner’s tour of Switzerland in 1802 and immediately afterwards, notably a view of Chamonix and Mont Blanc from the St Gothard and Mont Blanc sketchbook (Tate D04610; Turner Bequest LXXV 18), and a large study of the Great St Bernard Pass (Tate D04897; Turner Bequest LXXX D). A finished watercolour of St Gotthard: The Devil’s Bridge (Yale Center for British Art, New Haven)1 may also have been connected with this group of subjects.
1
Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.341 no.368, as untraced.
Technical notes:
There is a long repaired tear parallel to the fore–edge at the top right, and red paint stains at that corner. The whole sheet was evidently previously detached and is much creased; about 25mm at the gutter has been replaced with modern blue paper.

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘?A Mountain Scene with a Cataract c.1802–5 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, April 2016, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-a-mountain-scene-with-a-cataract-r1178274, accessed 23 September 2024.