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 Trier from Pallien, Looking up the Moselle to the Bridge in the Distance 1839

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Trier from Pallien, Looking up the Moselle to the Bridge in the Distance’ 1839
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 51 Recto:
Trier from Pallien, Looking up the Moselle to the Bridge in the Distance 1839
D28258
Turner Bequest CCLXXXVIII 51
Pencil on cream laid writing paper, 101 x 168 mm
Partial Pro Patria watermark
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘51’ bottom right
Stamped in black ink ‘CCLXXXVIII–51’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
In this rough sketch Turner has depicted the ancient city of Trier from nearby Pallien. The meander of the Moselle occupies the centre of the composition, grassy river islets suggested within it. Beyond, the bridge can be seen, fortified with a towered gatehouse. The city’s monuments are summarily rendered to the left whilst at the right, the rubbly terrain of Pallien’s sandstone cliffs is evoked with free, gestural markings. This sketch, along with Tate D28259–D28260; Turner Bequest CCLXXXVIII 51a – 52, formed the basis of a gouache and watercolour drawing on blue paper of c.1839 (Tate D24715; Turner Bequest CCLIX 150).
Other views taken from the Pallien hillsides in this sketchbook include Tate D28246, D28255–D28257, D28259–D28260; Turner Bequest CCLXXXVIII 43a, 49a–50a, 51a–52. See also the Trèves and Rhine sketchbook of 1824 (Tate D20150; Turner Bequest CCXVIII 12).

Alice Rylance-Watson
May 2013

How to cite

Alice Rylance-Watson, ‘Trier from Pallien, Looking up the Moselle to the Bridge in the Distance 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-trier-from-pallien-looking-up-the-moselle-to-the-bridge-in-r1150535, accessed 18 September 2024.