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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Presqu'île and the Pont de la Mulatière, Lyon 1820

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 41 Recto:
The Presqu’île and the Pont de la Mulatière, Lyon 1820
D16719
Turner Bequest CXCII 40
Pencil on white wove paper, 98 x 128 mm

Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘Goisbonne Roubel P[?eist] Beidets’ top centre
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘40’ top right, ascending right-hand edge
Stamped in black ‘CXCII 40’ top right, ascending right-hand edge
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This sketch depicts a view of the Presqu’île of Lyon, a peninsula created by the convergence of two rivers, the Saône and the Rhône. Turner’s viewpoint is the heights of the hill above the right-hand bank of the Saône looking north-east towards the tip of the peninsula with the domes of the ancient hospital of Hôtel Dieu beyond. The arches near the centre of the composition represent the Pont de la Mulatière, see folio 39 (D16715; Turner Bequest CXCII 38) and visible in the far distance to the right are the towering peaks of Mont Blanc.
The significance of the inscription at the top of the page is unknown.
For further sketches of Lyon see folio 37 verso (D16712; Turner Bequest CXCII 36a).

Nicola Moorby
April 2013

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘The Presqu’île and the Pont de la Mulatière, Lyon 1820 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, August 2013, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-the-presquile-and-the-pont-de-la-mulatiere-lyon-r1142619, accessed 26 April 2024.