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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > First Italian Tour 1819-20 > Paris, France, Savoy 2 Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Four Views in the Maurienne Valley, Savoy; including One of the Tour du Châtel 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Four Views in the Maurienne Valley, Savoy; including One of the Tour du Châtel’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 82 Recto:
Four Views in the Maurienne Valley, Savoy; including One of the Tour du Châtel 1819
D14128
Turner Bequest CLXXIII 82
Pencil on white wove paper, 185 x 114 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘[?Berold]’ and ‘Berold tower’ bottom right of top sketch
Stamped in black ‘CLXXIII 82’ top right, ascending right-hand edge
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This page contains three sketches depicting views in the Maurienne Valley, Savoy, on the approach towards St-Jean-de-Maurienne, the capital city of the valley. The draughtsmanship is rather rough and schematic. However, as Turner’s inscription indicates, the uppermost drawing depicts the Tour de Bérold, also known as the Tour du Châtel, an ancient square tower which is located near the village of Châtel, approximately a mile and a half north of St-Jean-de-Maurienne. According to tradition the founder of the House of Savoy, Humbert the White Hands died here in 1048. Related views of the tower can be found on folios 81 verso (D14127).

Nicola Moorby
March 2013

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Four Views in the Maurienne Valley, Savoy; including One of the Tour du Châtel 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, March 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, August 2013, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-four-views-in-the-maurienne-valley-savoy-including-one-of-r1142987, accessed 25 April 2024.