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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Lowland and River Colour Studies c.1820 ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner ?A Distant Town in a Valley c.1820-40

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘?A Distant Town in a Valley’ c.1820-40
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
?A Distant Town in a Valley c.1820–40
D25267
Turner Bequest CCLXIII 145
Watercolour on white wove paper, 300 x 438 mm
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom right
Inscribed in red ink ‘145’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCLXIII – 145’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This rather slight and incoherent composition is difficult to make out; it seems to focus on domes and spires in the central distance, possibly with hills on either side. Eric Shanes has proposed it as a Swiss subject, without further elaboration.1 Turner’s visits there began in 1802 and continued until 1844, but pending further research the sheet is here dated in line with the other generic subjects in this section.
The dark area on the left suggests a crag with a building on the skyline, though whether Finberg’s title, ‘A distant castle on rock’,2 referred to this is a moot point. Other works in this section with distant buildings include Tate D25321, D25335, D25351, D25359 and D25377 (Turner Bequest CCLXIII 199, 213, 229, 237, 254).
1
See Shanes 1997, p.105.
2
Finberg 1909, II, p.825.
Technical notes:
The sheet is rubbed, darkened and stained over much of its area.
Verso:
Blank; laid down.

Matthew Imms
December 2015

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘?A Distant Town in a Valley c.1820–40 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, December 2015, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2016, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-a-distant-town-in-a-valley-r1183216, accessed 18 April 2024.