Joseph Mallord William Turner

Barge; Saumur, Loire Valley

1826

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

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Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of: Nantes, Angers and Saumur Sketchbook
Medium: Graphite on paper
Dimensions: Support: 170 × 110 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D23153
Turner Bequest CCXLVIII 2

Catalogue entry

Inverted in relation to the sketchbook as foliated, the drawing at the top of this page depicts one of the sailed barges distinctive to the Loire Valley.1 Turner subsequently used local rivercraft to enliven his views of the river which he worked up for printed reproduction in The Keepsake annual (1831) and Turner’s Annual Tour: Wanderings by the Loire and Seine (1833–5; later reissued as Rivers of France).2 For examples, see Tate impressions T05107 and T04689. Just below the barge is a faint sketch of a fortified edifice which has been identified as the castle of Saumur.3There are several pages of studies of Saumur in this volume which are listed in the sketchbook introduction.

John Chu
April 2015

Ian Warrell, Turner on the Loire, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1997, pp. 64–7

Luke Herrmann, Turner Prints: The Engraved Work of J.M.W. Turner, Oxford 1990, pp. 164–6, 171–83.

Warrell, London 1997, p. 233.

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