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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Northern France c.1826-32 > Loose Studies of Northern France > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner River Maine, Angers c.1826-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘River Maine, Angers’ c.1826-8
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
River Maine, Angers c.1826–8
D24659
Turner Bequest CCLIX 94
Watercolour, gouache and ink on blue paper, 130 x 183 mm
Blind stamped with the Turner Bequest monogram bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This vista looks south down the River Maine as it passes through Angers, with the ruins of the Pont des Treilles on the left-hand side of the scene and the Canal des Tanneries on the right. Turner specialist Ian Warrell has pointed out that Turner’s emphasis is on the labourers at the centre of the composition, who appear to be breaking up the bridge’s remaining masonry.1 The pencil sketch over which this colour study is built up may have been taken on the spot. 2 See the Introduction to this section for a list of comparable studies of the city.
1
Ian Warrell, Turner on the Loire, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1997, p.104.
2
Ibid. p.221 no.78.
Technical Notes:
The sheet belongs to a batch of dense blue paper with dark fibres used by Turner made by George Steart of Bally, Ellen and Steart at De Montault Mill, Coombe Down, Bath. 1
1
Ibid. p.238.
Verso:
Inscribed in pencil with the note ‘CCLIX . 94’ in the bottom right-hand corner of the page. Stamped in black with the Turner Bequest monogram and ‘CCLIX – 94’ in the centre of the page.

John Chu
March 2016

How to cite

John Chu, ‘River Maine, Angers c.1826–8 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, March 2016, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, March 2017, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-river-maine-angers-r1185521, accessed 19 April 2024.