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 > Nantes, Angers and Saumur Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Théâtre Graslin, Nantes 1826

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Théâtre Graslin, Nantes’ 1826
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 1 Recto:
Théâtre Graslin, Nantes 1826
D23151
Turner Bequest CCXLVIII 1
Pencil on white laid paper, 110 x 170 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘3 Dor[?ic]’ bottom centre
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘1’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCXLVIII 1’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the sketchbook turned horizontally, Turner lightly worked studies of the architecture of Nantes onto this page. The structure at the centre of the page has been identified as the neo-classical Théâtre Graslin located on the Place Graslin, north of the River Loire.1 The sketch has been identified as preparatory study for a slightly later colour study of this subject on blue paper in the Turner Bequest; see D24579 (Turner Bequest CCLIX 14).2
1
Ian Warrell, Turner on the Loire, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1997, p. 219.
2
Ibid.
Technical notes:
There is a light brown stain on the left-hand edge of the page.

John Chu
April 2015

How to cite

John Chu, ‘Théâtre Graslin, Nantes 1826 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 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-theatre-graslin-nantes-r1184983, accessed 19 April 2024.