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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Meuse-Mosel, Luxembourg and Northern ... > Trèves and Rhine Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner View up the Rhine towards Schloss Stolzenfels 1824

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘View up the Rhine towards Schloss Stolzenfels’ 1824
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 2 Recto:
View up the Rhine towards Schloss Stolzenfels 1824
D20140
Turner Bequest CCXVIII 2
Pencil, watercolour and gouache on white wove paper, 220 x 291 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘Fete de [?H/M...z]’ bottom right (inverted)/top right (in accordance with image)
Inscribed in red ink by Ruskin ‘2’ bottom right (inverted relative to image)
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards top right
Stamped in black ‘CCXVIII–2’ bottom right (inverted relative to image)
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Here Turner shows a view on the Rhine as it flows away from Koblenz towards the Schloss Stolzenfels near Lahnstein (see Tate D20158; Turner Bequest CCXVIII 20). The sun shines bright on the rocks at left, rendered with luminous tones of gold, burnt umber, straw and pure white. By contrast, the glassy Rhine is still and cold, plunged in shadow and the sky above streaked with rumbling slate-grey cloud.
Turner has inscribed ‘Fete de [...]’ at the top right of the picture. This is the French for ‘Celebration of’ and probably refers to a public or religious holiday; in this context it seems to be an incidental note, a reminder of some sort, perhaps even relating to celebrations in the village depicted.
Verso:
Inscribed ‘CCXVIII–2’ top centre (inverted relative to foliation).

Alice Rylance-Watson
December 2013

How to cite

Alice Rylance-Watson, ‘View up the Rhine towards Schloss Stolzenfels 1824 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, December 2013, 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-view-up-the-rhine-towards-schloss-stolzenfels-r1174878, accessed 26 April 2024.