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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > First Italian Tour 1819-20 > Return from Italy Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Distant View of Avallon; and Buildings in the Town 1820

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Distant View of Avallon; and Buildings in the Town’ 1820
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 42 Recto:
Distant View of Avallon; and Buildings in the Town 1820
D16721
Turner Bequest CXCII 41
Pencil on white wove paper, 98 x 128 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘Tower near Avalonn’ and ‘Gra[?von]’ top right. Also ‘Grey’, ‘Red Light’, ‘Grey’, ‘[?Red]’, ‘R’ within sketch, and ‘People going to market’ and ‘man W | with Cow and Goat’ bottom centre
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘41’ top right, ascending right-hand edge
Stamped in black ‘CXCII 41’ top right, ascending right-hand edge
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner’s return journey through France in January 1820 took him to Avallon, a town in the Burgundy region of France, approximately thirty miles south-east of Auxerre. He had first sketched the town in the France, Savoy, Piedmont sketchbook during his 1802 tour (see for example Tate D04402; Turner Bequest LXXIII 10). The larger composition on this page depicts a distant view of the Avallon from the west looking back from the road to Auxerre. The town can be seen on the hill to the left, while to the right is the River Cousin, winding its way through the landscape into the distance. Turner has liberally annotated the sheet with colour notes and his inscriptions recording ‘Grey’ and ‘Red Light’ suggest that he may have been sketching early in the morning with the sun rising in the east. Also on the page are memoranda of daily life including ‘People going to market’ and a man with a cow and a goat.
In the top right-hand corner is a further study recording the silhouette of some of the more famous landmark buildings in Avallon such as the church and the Porte d’Horloge. Compare the 1802 sketch (Tate D04403; Turner Bequest LXXIII 11).

Nicola Moorby
April 2013

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Distant View of Avallon; and Buildings in the Town 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-distant-view-of-avallon-and-buildings-in-the-town-r1142621, accessed 19 April 2024.