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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Boats Moored at the River's Edge at Zell, Men Mending Nets; Zell, Looking Upstream; Kaimt; Merl, Looking Upstream; Zell, Looking Upstream 1824

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 116 Recto:
Boats Moored at the River’s Edge at Zell, Men Mending Nets; Zell, Looking Upstream; Kaimt; Merl, Looking Upstream; Zell, Looking Upstream 1824
D19778
Turner Bequest CCXVI 114
Pencil on white wove paper, 118 x 78 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘Zell’ centre towards left; ‘Kum’ centre right; ‘Merle’ centre towards bottom right; ‘V[ines]’ bottom left
Inscribed in blue ink by Ruskin ‘114’ top right
Stamped in black ‘CCXVI–114’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This busy page of sketches shows various views of Zell on the Moselle (see Tate D19775; Turner Bequest CCXVI 113a), Kaimt on the opposite side of the river, and Merl, situated a little further downstream from Zell and Kaimt. In the uppermost sketch Turner records figures, fishermen, mooring their boats and mending their nets on the riverfront at Zell. Below, is a view of the town itself with the Church of Saints Peter and Paul and the Pulverturm, a defensive tower, in the background. Kaimt, misspelt ‘Kum’ by Turner, is swiftly jotted in at centre right. The neighbouring village of Merl (see Tate D19779; Turner Bequest CCXVI 114a) is depicted above a final sketch of Zell at rear where the artist has made note of the lush vines growing up the valley hillsides.

Alice Rylance-Watson
May 2014

How to cite

Alice Rylance-Watson, ‘Boats Moored at the River’s Edge at Zell, Men Mending Nets; Zell, Looking Upstream; Kaimt; Merl, Looking Upstream; Zell, Looking Upstream 1824 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2014, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, April 2015, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-boats-moored-at-the-rivers-edge-at-zell-men-mending-nets-r1174569, accessed 19 September 2024.