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 Saumur, Loire Valley c.1826-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Saumur, Loire Valley’ c.1826-8
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Saumur, Loire Valley c.1826–8
D24759
Turner Bequest CCLIX 194
Watercolour, gouache and ink on blue paper, 131 x 184 mm
Blind stamped with Turner Bequest monogram, towards bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCLIX – 194’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This view of the Îlot Censier (a river island) from the Pont des Sept Voyes with the turreted Maison de la Reine de Sicilie on the right is one of several depictions of Saumur in gouache and watercolour on blue paper which Turner worked up after his 1826 tour of the Loire Valley.1 See the Introduction to this section for a list of comparable studies of the town.
1
Ian Warrell, Turner on the Loire, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1997, pp.106, 107.
Technical Notes:
The sheet belongs to a batch of dense blue paper with dark fibres used by Turner made by George Steart of Bally, Ellen and Steart at De Montault Mill, Coombe Down, Bath. 1
A margin of darker blue paper around the edge of the sheet indicates prolonged exposure to light.
1
Ibid. p.238.
Verso:
The verso is obscured by the mount.

John Chu
March 2016

How to cite

John Chu, ‘Saumur, 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-saumur-loire-valley-r1185543, accessed 18 April 2024.