Joseph Mallord William Turner

The Lighthouse at Marseilles from the Sea

c.1828

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

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Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Medium: Watercolour and gouache on paper
Dimensions: Support: 142 × 190 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D24704
Turner Bequest CCLIX 139

Display caption

Turner's route to Rome in 1828 took him via the Mediterranean coast of France during the humid days of August and September. He wrote, 'I must see the South of France, which almost knocked me up, and the heat was so intense particularly at Nismes and Avignon; and until I got a plunge into the sea at Marseilles, I felt so weak that nothing but the change of scene kept me onwards to my distant point'. Many of the colour sketches resulting from his waterborne journey along the coast are striking for their vivid and often unusual use of colour.

Gallery label, January 1991

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