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 Sketches at Auxerre; Including One of the Cathedral from the River Yonne 1820

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Sketches at Auxerre; Including One of the Cathedral from the River Yonne’ 1820
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 45 Recto:
Sketches at Auxerre; Including One of the Cathedral from the River Yonne 1820
D16727
Turner Bequest CXCII 44
Pencil on white wove paper, 98 x 128 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘[?J] from [...]’ and ‘Auxerre’ top right. Also ‘Man white cap | woman in Dark straw H’ bottom left and ‘16 arches’ bottom right
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘44’ top right, ascending right-hand edge
Stamped in black ‘CXCII 44’ top right, ascending right-hand edge
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This page contains a series of sketches made at Auxerre, a city on the River Yonne in Burgundy. Turner has made swift, rough studies of several different elements including the bridge which he has noted has ’16 arches’, and a view from the banks of the river of the Gothic cathedral of Saint-Étienne. Further views of Auxerre dating from 1820 can be found in the Remarks (Italy) sketchbook (see Tate D16867–D16868 and D16871; Turner Bequest CXCIII 94a–95 and 96a).
The sheet also contains a small study of a figure wearing a large hat and the artist has added the written notes ‘Man white cap’ and ‘woman in Dark straw H[at]’.

Nicola Moorby
April 2013

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Sketches at Auxerre; Including One of the Cathedral from the River Yonne 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-sketches-at-auxerre-including-one-of-the-cathedral-from-the-r1142627, accessed 23 September 2024.