Joseph Mallord William Turner

Blois, Loire Valley

1826

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Not on display

Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of: Loire, Tours, Orleans and Paris Sketchbook
Medium: Graphite on paper
Dimensions: Support: 153 x 103 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D23281
Turner Bequest CCXLIX 18 a

Catalogue entry

With the sketchbook turned horizontally, Turner filled the lower half of this page with a view of Blois from the left bank of the Loire. Towards the centre of the scene can be seen the Pont Jacques-Gabriel and the cathedral. This is one of a substantial number of pages featuring sketches of the city and its environs, a list of which is provided in the sketchbook introduction. Turner subsequently returned to these drawings as part of a search for subjects for engraved reproduction. This culminated in two 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 T04681, T04682.

John Chu
May 2015

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

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