Joseph Mallord William Turner

River Erdre and the Pont Sauvetot, Nantes

c.1828

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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: 128 × 182 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D24658
Turner Bequest CCLIX 93

Catalogue entry

This view along the banks of the River Erdre as it flows through Nantes to join the Loire is one of several depictions of the city in gouache and watercolour on blue paper which Turner worked up after his 1826 tour. The arches on the right-hand side of the scene belong to the Pont Sauvetot, also known as the Pont de l’Arche-Sèche.1 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.53.

Technical Notes:

The sheet belongs to a batch of blue paper with red fibres used by Turner made by George Steart of Bally, Ellen and Steart at De Montault Mill, Coombe Down, Bath. Another sheet from the batch bears a watermark dated 1828. 1

Ibid. p.238.

Verso:

Inscribed in pencil with the note ‘CCLIX . 93’ in the centre of the sheet. Stamped in black with the Turner Bequest monogram and with ‘CCLIX – 93’ in the centre of the sheet.

John Chu
March 2016

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