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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1836-47 Modern painter > The Second Meuse-Moselle Tour 1839 > Spa, Dinant and Namur Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Two Views of Spa from the Hillside 1839

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Two Views of Spa from the Hillside’ 1839
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 39 Recto:
Two Views of Spa from the Hillside 1839
D28115
Turner Bequest CCLXXXVII 39
Pencil on white wove writing paper, 94 x 154 mm
Watermarked ‘John F[ellows] | 18[10]’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Wood’ | ‘C Wood’
Inscribed by John Ruskin in blue ink ‘350’ bottom right and ‘39’ top right
Stamped in black ‘CCLXXXVII–39’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With fine and precise line, Turner has delineated two profiles of the town of Spa from the surrounding Ardennes hillsides. The larger of the two has been annotated to indicate where woodland sprawls across the mountainous topography. The town can be seen nestled in the valley, the spire of the Church of Saint-Rémacle conspicuous at centre. The smaller of the two drawings is inversely orientated and runs parallel to the gutter of the sketchbook.
For other views of Spa in this sketchbook see Tate D28078, D28082–D28083, D28086–D28092, D28107–D28114, D28116; Turner Bequest CCLXXXVII 19, 21–21a, 23–26, 34a–38, 39a.

Alice Rylance-Watson
May 2013

How to cite

Alice Rylance-Watson, ‘Two Views of Spa from the Hillside 1839 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-two-views-of-spa-from-the-hillside-r1150389, accessed 20 September 2024.