J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Northern France c.1826-32 > Loire, Tours, Orleans and Paris ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Blois, Loire Valley 1826

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Blois, Loire Valley’ 1826
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 20 Recto:
Blois, Loire Valley 1826
D23282
Turner Bequest CCXLIX 19
Pencil on white laid paper, 103 x 153 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in blue ink ‘19’ bottom right, descending vertically, ‘266’ bottom left descending vertically, ‘1393’ top right inverted
Stamped in black ‘CCXLIX 19’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the sketchbook turned horizontally, Turner filled this page with studies of Blois. At the centre of the page is featured the Pont Jacques-Gabriel with the Prefecture to the right. In the upper right-hand quadrant of the page can be seen the apse of the cathedral with the Bishop’s Palace next to it. This is one of a substantial number of pages featuring sketches of the city and its environs, a list of which is provided in the sketchbook introduction. Turner subsequently returned to these drawings as part of a search for subjects for engraved reproduction. This culminated in two printed illustrations for Turner’s Annual Tour: Wanderings by the Loire and Seine (1833–5; later reissued as Rivers of France);1 see Tate impressions T04681, T04682.

John Chu
May 2015

1
Luke Herrmann, Turner Prints: The Engraved Work of J.M.W. Turner, Oxford 1990, pp.171–83.

How to cite

John Chu, ‘Blois, Loire Valley 1826 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2015, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, March 2017, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-blois-loire-valley-r1185121, accessed 25 April 2024.