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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Near Bonneville, Looking towards Mont Blanc 1802

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Near Bonneville, Looking towards Mont Blanc 1802
D04608
Turner Bequest LXXV 16
Pencil, black chalk, watercolour and white gouache on white wove paper prepared with grey wash, 320 x 475 mm
Stamped in black ‘LXXV 16’ bottom right
Blind-stamped with the Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
John Ruskin noted the contrast between the contrasts of ‘pastoral green, pure aiguilles and fleecy clouds’ in this drawing. The valley looks like that of the River Arve, perhaps between Bonneville and St Martin. A curious feature is the object drawn in the sky, apparently a separate motif unrelated to the landscape. Its subject is unclear but looks like the rudder or barge-board of a boat.
Verso:
Blank
Inscribed by a later hand in pencil ‘5’ within a circle

David Blayney Brown
October 2011

How to cite

David Blayney Brown, ‘Near Bonneville, Looking towards Mont Blanc 1802 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, October 2011, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, August 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-near-bonneville-looking-towards-mont-blanc-r1146516, accessed 19 April 2024.