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 > Loose Studies of Northern France > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Orléans, Loire Valley c.1826-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Orléans, Loire Valley’ c.1826-8
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Orléans, Loire Valley c.1826–8
D20225
Turner Bequest CCXX R
Watercolour, gouache and ink on blue paper, 135 x 188 mm
Blind stamped with Turner Bequest monogram, bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCXX – R.’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This view across the River Loire to the great buildings of Orléans from the south is one of several colour depictions of the city on relatively light-weight blue paper which Turner worked up after his 1826 tour of Northern France.1 It is based on a pencil sketch in the Loire, Tours, Orleans and Paris sketchbook; see entry for Tate D23303 (Turner Bequest CCXLIX 29a).2 See the Introduction to this section for a list of comparable studies of the city.
1
Ian Warrell, Turner on the Loire, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1997, p.238.
2
Ibid. p.224.
Technical Notes:
A margin of darker blue paper round the edge of the sheet indicates fading due to prolonged exposure to sunlight.
Verso:
The centre of the sheet bears the pencil notes ’27 | 7b’ and ‘CCXX R’. It is also stamped in black with the Turner Bequest monogram and ‘CCXX – R’.

John Chu
March 2016

How to cite

John Chu, ‘Orléans, Loire Valley c.1826–8 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, March 2016, 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-orleans-loire-valley-r1185472, accessed 19 April 2024.