Joseph Mallord William Turner

Orléans, Loire Valley

c.1826–8

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In Tate Britain

Turner Collection: Turner and Gothic Cathedrals

Free entry

Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Medium: Watercolour, gouache and pen and watercolour on paper
Dimensions: Support: 126 x 196 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D24770
Turner Bequest CCLIX 205

Catalogue entry

This view across the River Loire towards Orléans, taking in the arched bridge and the cathedral, is one of several colour depictions of the city on relatively light-weight blue paper which Turner worked up after his 1826 tour of Northern France.1 It is based on a pencil sketch in the Loire, Tours, Orleans and Paris sketchbook; see entry for Tate D23304 (Turner Bequest CCXLIX 30).2 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.238.

Ibid. p.224 no. 95.

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:

The sheet is obscured by its mount on the verso.

John Chu
March 2016

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