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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1836-47 Modern painter > Venice, Austria and Southern Germany ... > The Route to Venice: The Rivers Mosel ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Cochem on the River Mosel, from above the Enderttal 1840

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Cochem on the River Mosel, from above the Enderttal’ 1840
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Cochem on the River Mosel, from above the Enderttal 1840
D28974
Turner Bequest CCXCII 27
Watercolour and gouache on grey wove paper, 142 x 194 mm
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom right
Inscribed in ink ‘27’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCXCII 27’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The subject of this elemental scene was identified by Cecilia Powell.1 From an elevated viewpoint on the slopes of the Pinnerberg, Cochem is seen to the south up the River Mosel, with the ruins of the Burg (since elaborately restored and known as the Reichsburg) high up on the far side of the town, silhouetted against the sunlight. Powell has observed: ‘Like the final view of Cochem in 1839, looking straight into the sun [Tate D24723; Turner Bequest CCLIX 158, on blue paper], this scene is the most dynamic and colourful of the [1840 Mosel] series. The fact that no pencil is visible anywhere in this drawing suggests that some of Turner’s colouring at Cochem must have taken place out of doors.’2 Compare D28992 (CCXCII 45), an 1840 view with similar washes, but with considerable pencil detail too.
The strongly coloured effect and composition here, with the sun opposite a high tower, are also similar to those in a contemporary study of nearby Klotten (D28967; CCXCII 20). For numerous other 1840 studies of Cochem see under D28950 (Turner Bequest CCXCII 3); and for the full range of Mosel subjects associated with the present tour, see the Introduction to this subsection.
There is a slight pencil outline of Cochem on the verso (D41474), from a viewpoint off in the distance to the left here.
1
See Powell 1995, p.148.
2
Ibid.
Technical notes:
There is a short, closed tear half-way down the right-hand edge. The bright yellow contrasts strongly with the grey of the bare paper, while delicate strokes of white suggest a haze of reflected light from the slopes of the castle hill facing the sun.
Cecilia Powell has noted this as one of the many sheets of grey 1829 Bally, Ellen and Steart paper used on Turner’s 1840 tour, neatly torn as eighths or sixteenths of the overall sheet, with dimensions of around 190 x 280 or 140 x 190 mm, and variously worked with pencil, watercolour and gouache; see the technical notes in the overall Introduction for others.1

Matthew Imms
September 2018

1
See ibid., p.145.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Cochem on the River Mosel, from above the Enderttal 1840 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2018, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2019, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-cochem-on-the-river-mosel-from-above-the-enderttal-r1196401, accessed 25 April 2024.