Joseph Mallord William Turner Nice, from the Sea 1828
Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner,
Nice, from the Sea
1828
Folio 7 Recto:
Nice, from the Sea 1828
D21145
Turner Bequest CCXXXI 7
Turner Bequest CCXXXI 7
Pencil on white wove paper, 113 x 174 mm
Inscribed in red ink ‘7’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCXXXI 7’ bottom left, descending vertically
Inscribed in red ink ‘7’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCXXXI 7’ bottom left, descending vertically
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
References
1909
A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, London 1909, vol.II, p.708, CCXXXI 7, as ‘Do.’ (i.e. ditto: ‘Buildings and mountains’).
1981
Maurice Guillaud, Nicholas Alfrey, Andrew Wilton and others, Turner en France: aquarelles, peintures, dessins, gravures, carnets de croquis / Turner in France: Watercolours, Paintings, Drawings, Engravings, Sketchbooks, exhibition catalogue, Centre Culturel du Marais, Paris 1981, p.285, fig.534, ‘En mer en vue de Nice’.
Turner made a number of sketches documenting his arrival by boat in Nice. This example, with the page turned horizontally, represents a view from the sea looking north towards the city and its surrounding coastline with the hills and mountains of the Alpes-maritimes rising in the background. In the centre of the composition is the hill overlooking the eastern perimeter of Nice, known as the ‘Château’, and, on the right, is the entrance to the port.1 Maurice Guillaud has described the structures visible here as ‘the only buildings standing here at that time, the houses of R[au]ba Capeu’.2
Nicola Moorby
March 2017
Revised by Hannah Kaspar
November 2024
See Guillaud, Alfrey, Wilton and others 1981, p.285; see also Roland Courtot, ‘Les Carnets de William Turner: Recherches d’identification et de localisation des dessins’, unpublished research notes, Université de Provence à Aix, April 2008, p.3, as ‘Nice’ (shared with former Tate cataloguer Nicola Moorby in email correspondence at that date).
How to cite
Nicola Moorby, ‘Nice, from the Sea 1828’, catalogue entry, March 2017, revised by Hannah Kaspar, November 2024, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, February 2025, https://www