Joseph Mallord William Turner

Orléans, Loire Valley

c.1826–8

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

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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 x 196 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D24771
Turner Bequest CCLIX 206

Catalogue entry

This view across the River Loire towards the great buildings of Orléans from the Quai Neuf 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 pencil sketches in the Loire, Tours, Orleans and Paris sketchbook; see entry for Tate D23303, D23304 (Turner Bequest CCXLIX 29a, 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. 93.

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

The bottom left-hand corner of the sheet is missing and has been reconstructed.

Ibid. p.238.

Verso:

The bottom right-hand corner of the sheet has been stamped in black with the Turner Bequest monogram and the number ‘CCLIX-206’. Light brown spots are scattered across the entire sheet.

John Chu
March 2016

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