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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Northern France c.1826-32 > Loire, Tours, Orleans and Paris ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Marmoutier Abbey; Tours, Loire Valley 1826

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Marmoutier Abbey; Tours, Loire Valley’ 1826
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 11 Recto:
Marmoutier Abbey; Tours, Loire Valley
D23266
Turner Bequest CCXLIX 11
Pencil on white laid paper, 103 x 153 mm
Partial watermark of bunch of grapes
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘M[...]’ towards top right
Inscribed by John Ruskin in blue ink ‘11’ top right, descending vertically, ‘266’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCXLIX 11’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the sketchbook turned horizontally, Turner filled the centre of this page with a sketch of the Portail de la Crosse at Marmoutier Abbey in Tours. This was later used as the basis for a colour study; see Tate D24583. A distant view of the city is featured at the top of the page. This is one of a substantial number of pages depicting Tours in its environs in this volume, a list of which is provided in the sketchbook introduction. Turner subsequently used these drawings as the basis for multiple colour studies and finished watercolours on blue paper with a view to engraved reproduction; see especially Tate D24712 (Turner Bequest CCLIX 147). These culminated in four printed illustrations for Turner’s Annual Tour: Wanderings by the Loire and Seine (1833–5; later reissued as Rivers of France);1 see Tate impressions T04685–T04688.

John Chu
May 2015

1
Luke Herrmann, Turner Prints: The Engraved Work of J.M.W. Turner, Oxford 1990, pp.171–83.

How to cite

John Chu, ‘Marmoutier Abbey; Tours, Loire Valley by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2015, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, March 2017, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-marmoutier-abbey-tours-loire-valley-r1185103, accessed 19 April 2024.