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 Orléans, Loire Valley c.1826-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Orléans, Loire Valley’ c.1826-8
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Orléans, Loire Valley c.1826–8
D24770
Turner Bequest CCLIX 205
Watercolour, gouache and ink on blue paper, 126 x 196 mm
Blind stamped with the Turner Bequest monogram bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCLIX – 205’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This view across the River Loire towards Orléans, taking in the arched bridge and the cathedral, is one of several colour depictions of the city on relatively light-weight blue paper which Turner worked up after his 1826 tour of Northern France.1 It is based on a pencil sketch in the Loire, Tours, Orleans and Paris sketchbook; see entry for Tate D23304 (Turner Bequest CCXLIX 30).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.238.
2
Ibid. p.224 no. 95.
Technical Notes:
The sheet belongs to a batch of lightweight blue paper 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:
The sheet is obscured by its mount on the verso.

John Chu
March 2016

How to cite

John Chu, ‘Orléans, Loire Valley 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-orleans-loire-valley-r1185551, accessed 24 September 2024.