Joseph Mallord William Turner

Three Sketches of Rocks and Villages on the Meuse near Namur

1839

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In Tate Britain

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Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
Spa, Dinant and Namur Sketchbook
Medium
Graphite on paper
Dimensions
Support: 154 × 94 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D28130
Turner Bequest CCLXXXVII 47

Catalogue entry

In these three sketches, Turner depicts the dramatic bluffs, rock formations and ranges surrounding the banks of the Meuse close to Namur. Each drawing is orientated inversely relative to the foliation. Rendered with rough and swift line, the sketches are arranged on the upper, middle and lower registers of the page. The uppermost drawing is inscribed by Turner with ‘Marche-les-Dames’, a town which neighbours Namur, and continues onto the lower register of the folio opposite (Tate D28129; Turner Bequest CCLXXVII 46a).
These pencil sketches and similar ones on the opposite folio are the basis for a gouache and watercolour drawing on blue paper of the Rocks on the Meuse at Marche-les-Dames (Tate D20262; Turner Bequest CCXXII C).

Alice Rylance-Watson
May 2013

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