Joseph Mallord William Turner

Distant Hills, ?Northern France

c.1826–8

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

View by appointment

Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of: Loose Studies of Northern France
Medium: Watercolour on paper
Dimensions: Support: 130 × 185 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D40129

Catalogue entry

This exact subject of this view of distant hills seen across a wide expanse, presumably the sea or an estuary, is unknown although a location in Northern France is suggested by the sketch of Tours in the Loire Valley on the verso of the sheet; see See entry for Tate D24712 (Turner Bequest CCLIX 147). Turner specialist Ian Warrell has suggested that a hill-top castle is also depicted in the scene.1

Ian Warrell, Turner on the Loire, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1997, p.222 under no.84.

Technical Notes:

The sheet belongs to a batch of blue paper used by Turner made by George Steart of Bally, Ellen and Steart at De Montault Mill, Coombe Down, Bath. 1

Unlike work on the verso of this sheet, this study was not catalogued by A.J. Finberg in his 1909 Inventory so lacks the usual Turner Bequest number.2

Ibid. p.238.

A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, London 1909.

Verso:

John Chu
March 2016

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