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 > Givet, Mézières, Verdun, Metz, Luxemburg ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Metz with a Bridge, Saint-Vincent Church and the Cathedral 1839

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Metz with a Bridge, Saint-Vincent Church and the Cathedral’ 1839
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 26 Recto:
Metz with a Bridge, Saint-Vincent Church and the Cathedral 1839
D28217
Turner Bequest CCLXXXVIII 26
Pencil on cream laid writing paper, 101 x 168 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘26’ bottom right
Stamped in black ink ‘CCLXXXVIII–26’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With summary line, Turner renders a scene at Metz with a bridge at left leading into the city. Beyond, the profile of Saint-Vincent Church and spire of Saint-Étienne Cathedral can be seen. The single indented line drawn at the top right appears to be a tracing of the profile of rooftops and buildings.
For other representations of Metz in this sketchbook see Tate D28200, D28216, D28218–D28219, D28221, D28222, D28232–D28235; Turner Bequest CCLXXXVIII 17a, 25a, 26a–27, 28, 28a, 34–36. There is also a gouache and watercolour drawing of the city produced on blue paper in 1839 (Tate D24757; Turner Bequest CCLIX 192). For earlier depictions of Metz see the Rivers Meuse and Moselle sketchbook of 1824 (Tate D19706, D19709, D19786; Turner Bequest CCXVI 79, 80a, 118).

Alice Rylance-Watson
May 2013

How to cite

Alice Rylance-Watson, ‘Metz with a Bridge, Saint-Vincent Church and the Cathedral 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-metz-with-a-bridge-saint-vincent-church-and-the-cathedral-r1150494, accessed 18 April 2024.