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 View down the Meuse from Jambes towards the Citadel at Namur and the Pont de Jambes; Groups of Figures with Merchandise and a Cart 1839

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘View down the Meuse from Jambes towards the Citadel at Namur and the Pont de Jambes; Groups of Figures with Merchandise and a Cart’ 1839
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 42 Recto:
View down the Meuse from Jambes towards the Citadel at Namur and the Pont de Jambes; Groups of Figures with Merchandise and a Cart 1839
D28121
Turner Bequest CCLXXXVII 42
Pencil on white wove writing paper, 94 x 154 mm
Watermarked ‘[F]ellows | [181]0’
Inscribed by John Ruskin in blue ink ‘350’ bottom right and ‘42’ top right
Stamped in black ‘CCLXXXVII–42’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
As with the sketch on the previous folio (Tate D28120; Turner Bequest CCLXXXVII 41a), Turner depicts the left bank of the Meuse running through Namur from the adjacent district of Jambes. The view incorporates the citadel of Namur atop the heights and the arched Pont de Jambes. Rough hatching and gestural markings suggest the rugged surface of the crag and the vegetation surrounding it.
In addition, Turner roughly jots in two groups of figures orientated inversely to the landscape which run parallel to the peripheral edge of the sketchbook. What appear to be carts and various wares can be identified, perhaps indicating a scene of local trade.

Alice Rylance-Watson
May 2013

How to cite

Alice Rylance-Watson, ‘View down the Meuse from Jambes towards the Citadel at Namur and the Pont de Jambes; Groups of Figures with Merchandise and a Cart 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-view-down-the-meuse-from-jambes-towards-the-citadel-at-namur-r1150395, accessed 18 April 2024.