Joseph Mallord William Turner

River Scene, with Steamboat

c.1826

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

View by appointment

Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Medium: Gouache and watercolour on paper
Dimensions: Support: 141 × 187 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D20276
Turner Bequest CCXXII Q

Display caption

Steamboats turn up with surprising frequency in Turner’s landscapes. Sometimes they seem to take on weighty symbolic associations; sometimes, as here, they seem just a natural part of the landscape.

Whereas previously only the very wealthiest could undertake long trips easily, in the nineteenth century a wider section of the population was able to travel further more frequently. This included artists such as Turner himself. Travel became more frequent and more casual, so that modern ‘tourism’ took the place of the more formal, aristocratic ‘Grand Tour’.

Gallery label, September 2004

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