Joseph Mallord William Turner

Turner's use of pen and ink in these two drawings is characteristic of his Belgian scenes as a whole, but their muted twilight colouring is close to that in several of those showing the Mosel including no.48 depicting Trier and no.52 of Bernkastel. In no.94 Turner achieves a balance between the Meuse and the very much smaller Sambre by putting the more important river into shadow and bathing the right-hand side of his scene in golden light. In no.93, however, neither river is visible, their confluence occurring just beyond the left-hand edge of the drawing, but the tiny stream in the foreground suggests their unseen presence.

Gallery label, August 2004

Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? We would like to hear from you.