Laufenburg on the Rhine

1844

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

View by appointment

Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of: Rheinfelden Sketchbook
Medium: Graphite and watercolour on paper
Dimensions: Support: 229 x 329 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D35152
Turner Bequest CCCXLIX 28

Display caption

This view has only recently been identified as showing Laufenburg, on the Rhine. In it Turner reworks a subject he had observed more than forty years earlier, on his very first tour of the Continent.

This work is typical of a handful of the watercolours he painted during his 1844 tour, in the unusually restrained, almost monochromatic treatment of the subject. Forms are invoked rather than stated,
as the eye attempts to bring them into focus. In this it resembles the great painting Norham Castle, Sunrise, which was also painted around this time (on display downstairs in room C1).

Gallery label, September 2004

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