Joseph Mallord William Turner

Ehrenbreitstein from the Rhine, Looking Downstream

1824

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Not on display
Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
Rivers Meuse and Moselle Sketchbook
Medium
Graphite on paper
Dimensions
Support: 78 x 118 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D19826
Turner Bequest CCXVI 138

Catalogue entry

This is a detailed and carefully rendered study of the Festung, or fortress, of Ehrenbreitstein at Koblenz. Located on the east bank of the Rhine and built into a mountain of the same name, the citadel was constructed by the Prussians between 1817 and 1828.1 Turner shows the fortress here still in the process of being built. This formidable defence guarded the middle Rhine region against imminent French invasion, and, unsurprisingly given its vast and mighty proportions, Ehrenbreitstein was never attacked. In this drawing Turner provides the viewer with a sense of the sheer dominance and impenetrability of the building, constructed as it is into the natural tiers and platforms of the rock high above the water. Ehrenbreitstein made an impression on Turner and the Victorian travel writer Bartholomew Stritch alike, the latter writing that the citadel is ‘gigantic and almost “cloud capt”’ and renders Koblenz ‘an impregnable bulwark against any attempts of the French upon that part of the Prussian dominions’.2
Ehrenbreitstein was sketched, studied and painted by Turner over one hundred times. His earliest drawings are from 1817, and include: Tate D12802–D12806, D12809, D12894–D12908; Turner Bequest CLX 52a–54a, 56, CLXI 7–15 and other 1824 drawings of the citadel are: Tate D19785, D19818–D19821, D19827–D19828, D19830; Turner Bequest CCXVI 117a, 134–135a, 138a–139, 140. Later drawings from 1839 and colour studies can be found on: Tate D24804, D24809, D24833, D25307, D28302–D28303, D28351–D28356, D28444–D28447, D28529–D28536, D28603–D28609, D26613–D28614; Turner Bequest CCLIX 239, 244, 268, CCLXIII 185, CCLXXXIX 6a–7, CCXC 1–3a, 47a–49, 87a–91, CCXCI 34a–37a, 39a–40.

Alice Rylance-Watson
June 2014

1
‘Die Festung Ehrenbreitstein’, Rhineland Pfalz: Festung Ehrenbreitstein, accessed 12 June 2014, http://www.diefestungehrenbreitstein.de/index.php?id=inderfestung
2
Bartholomew Stritch, The Meuse, the Moselle, and the Rhine; or, A six weeks' tour through the finest river scenery in Europe, by B.S., London 1845, p.68.

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Coblenz and Ehrenbreitstein, Looking Downstream from the West Bank North of Kapellen’ 1817

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Coblenz and Ehrenbreitstein, Looking Downstream from the West Bank North of Kapellen’ 1817

Joseph Mallord William Turner Coblenz and Ehrenbreitstein, Looking Downstream from the West Bank North of Kapellen

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Ehrenbreitstein, Looking up the Rhine’ 1839

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Fortress of Ehrenbreitstein, Looking Downstream from the Town of Ehrenbreitstein’ 1839

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View by appointment
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Distant View of Coblenz and Ehrenbreitstein, Looking down the Rhine from the West Bank on the Road to Kapellen’ 1824

Joseph Mallord William Turner Distant View of Coblenz and Ehrenbreitstein, Looking down the Rhine from the West Bank on the Road to Kapellen

1824
View by appointment
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Distant Views of Koblenz and Ehrenbreitstein, Looking down the Rhine; The Charterhouse at Koblenz’ 1824

Joseph Mallord William Turner Distant Views of Koblenz and Ehrenbreitstein, Looking down the Rhine; The Charterhouse at Koblenz

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Three Sketches Making Up a Composite View of Koblenz and Ehrenbreitstein, Looking Downstream from near Pfaffendorf’ 1824

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1824
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Coblenz and the Fortress of Ehrenbreitstein, Looking Downstream from the Town of Ehrenbreitstein’ 1839

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1839
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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Ehrenbreitstein and Coblenz, Looking up the Rhine’ 1839

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Ehrenbreitstein’ c.1830–41

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Fortress and Town of Ehrenbreitstein from the East Rhine Bank, Looking Downstream, with the Dikasterialgebäude, Capuchin Church, Heribertturm and Church of the Holy Cross’ 1817

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Fortress and Town of Ehrenbreitstein from the East Rhine Bank, Looking Downstream, with the Dikasterialgebäude, Capuchin Church, Heribertturm and Church of the Holy Cross

1817
View by appointment
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Island of Oberwerth, with its Ruined Abbey, South of Koblenz; Koblenz and Ehrenbreitstein in the Distance, Looking Downstream from the East’ 1824

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Island of Oberwerth, with its Ruined Abbey, South of Koblenz; Koblenz and Ehrenbreitstein in the Distance, Looking Downstream from the East

1824
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Coblenz and Ehrenbreitstein in the Distance, Looking Downstream from near Kapellen’ 1839

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1839
View by appointment