Joseph Mallord William Turner

Tours, Loire Valley

1826

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Not on display

Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
Loire, Tours, Orleans and Paris Sketchbook
Medium
Graphite on paper
Dimensions
Support: 103 × 153 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D23249
Turner Bequest CCXLIX 2 a

Catalogue entry

With the sketchbook turned horizontally, Turner filled the centre of this page with a distant view of Tours. This views was gained from the high ground at Saint-Cyr to the west of the city.1 This is one of a substantial number of sketches of Tours in this volume, a list of which is provided in the sketchbook introduction. Turner subsequently used these drawings as the basis for multiple colour studies and finished watercolours on blue paper with a view to engraved reproduction. These culminated in four printed illustrations for Turner’s Annual Tour: Wanderings by the Loire and Seine (1833–5; later reissued as Rivers of France);2 see Tate impressions T04685–T04688.
1
Ian Warrell, Turner on the Loire, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1997, p. 236.
2
Luke Herrmann, Turner Prints: The Engraved Work of J.M.W. Turner, Oxford 1990, pp.171–83.

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