Joseph Mallord William Turner

Mountains, near the Simplon Pass

1819

Image released under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND (3.0 Unported)

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Not on display

Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
Passage of the Simplon Sketchbook
Medium
Graphite on paper
Dimensions
Support: 121 × 195 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D16908
Turner Bequest CXCIV 10

Catalogue entry

Turner executed most of his sketches documenting the mountainous landscape near the Simplon Pass on sheets prepared with a grey watercolour wash. The dark and uneven nature of this ground often renders these pencil drawings difficult to see, and in this instance, the granulation of the wash also obscures the details. Other than the jagged peaks near the top left-hand corner the view is indecipherable and the precise location of the view is impossible to determine.
For a general discussion of Turner’s expedition to the Simplon Pass see the introduction to the sketchbook.

Nicola Moorby
April 2011

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