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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Meuse-Mosel, Luxembourg and Northern ... > Rivers Meuse and Moselle Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Views at and near Metz 1824

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Views at and near Metz’ 1824
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 80 Verso:
Views at and near Metz 1824
D19709
Turner Bequest CCXVI 80 a
Pencil on white wove paper, 78 x 118 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘F[...]oux’ top centre towards right; ‘Fete of St Louis’ top right towards centre; ‘R[...]’ top right; ‘Blue Li’ far right centre; ‘Metz’ bottom centre; ‘Chateau Fort’ bottom left; ‘Wo’ bottom left towards centre; ‘12’ top right towards centre
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This page of sketches and jottings shows the ancient Roman city of Metz at a distance, including its medieval bridge, its ‘chateau fort’ (most likely the citadel, or possibly the German’s Gate) and Cathedral of Saint-Stephen. From Turner’s inscription we are able to date the drawing to 25 August, the feast day or ‘fete of Saint Louis’. This date also matches that inscribed in the itinerary of the tour, which tells us that the artist was in Metz from 24–25 August 1824 (see rear flyleaf, Tate D20080; Turner Bequest CCXVI 270)

Alice Rylance-Watson
April 2014

How to cite

Alice Rylance-Watson, ‘Views at and near Metz 1824 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 2014, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, April 2015, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-views-at-and-near-metz-r1174498, accessed 04 April 2026.