Joseph Mallord William Turner

Beilstein and Burg Metternich, Looking Downstream; Burg Metternich and Riverside Buildings at Beilstein; ?Distant View of Trarbach

1839

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In Tate Britain

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Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
Trèves to Cochem and Coblenz to Mayence Sketchbook
Medium
Graphite on paper
Dimensions
Support: 163 × 100 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D28368
Turner Bequest CCXC 9 a

Catalogue entry

With the sketchbook turned upside down Turner has drawn two small yet carefully limned drawings of Beilstein and Burg Metternich running across the upper and middle registers. The first of these is inscribed with ‘Vines’, a note to remind the artist of the vegetation growing up the slopes of Moselle.
With the sketchbook orientated horizontally, Beilstein is depicted again at the right, the castle rising loftily atop a conical mount above the village. The final drawing is directly below and likely represents Trarbach. This diminutive yet picturesque composition has been squared off by Turner and annotated with his approximation of the village’s name, ‘Trabach’.

Alice Rylance-Watson
July 2013

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