Joseph Mallord William Turner

Orléans Cathedral

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, gouache and pen and watercolour on paper
Dimensions: Support: 141 × 193 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D24636
Turner Bequest CCLIX 71

Catalogue entry

This view of Orléans Cathedralfrom the left bank of the River Loire, rendered with a ‘dazzling clarity of light and line’,1 is one of several colour studies Turner made of the city after his 1826 tour of Northern France. It is based on studies in the Loire, Tours, Orleans and Paris sketchbook from that year; see, for example, D23303 (Turner Bequest CCXLIX 29a). See the Introduction to this section for a list of comparable studies of the city.

Ian Warrell, Turner on the Loire, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1997, p.151

Technical Notes:

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

Ibid. p.238.

Verso:

Inscribed in pencil with the note ‘CCLIX . 71’ in the centre of the sheet. Stamped in black with the Turner Bequest monogram and ‘CCLIX 71’ in the centre of the sheet.

John Chu
March 2016

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