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 Tours, Loire Valley c.1826-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Tours, Loire Valley’ c.1826-8
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Tours, Loire Valley c.1826–8
D24712
Turner Bequest CCLIX 147
Watercolour, gouache and ink on blue paper, 130 x 185 mm
Stamped in black ‘CCLIX – 147’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This panoramic depiction of Tours, taking in the cathedral and the Place de la Tranchée at the northern end of the Pont de Tours (now called the Place Choiseuil) is one of several colour studies of the city which Turner worked up from material collected on his 1826 tour of the Loire Valley. It is based on a pencil sketch he made in the Loire, Tours, Orleans and Paris sketchbook; see entry for Tate D23262 (Turner Bequest CCXLIX 9).1 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.222 no.84.
Technical Notes:
The sheet belongs to a batch of blue paper used by Turner made by George Steart of Bally, Ellen and Steart at De Montault Mill, Coombe Down, Bath. 1
1
Ibid. p.238.
Verso:
See entry for Tate D40129.

John Chu
March 2016

How to cite

John Chu, ‘Tours, 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-tours-loire-valley-r1185532, accessed 19 April 2024.