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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Northern Germany, the Elbe and Prague ... > Copenhagen to Dresden Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Berlin: Looking Eastwards along Unter den Linden with Entrance Gate to the University, Zeughaus, Statue of Blücher and Opera; Side of Opera and Part of Dome of St Hedwigskirche; St Hedwigskirche, with Side Steps of Opera and Royal Library 1835

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Berlin: Looking Eastwards along Unter den Linden with Entrance Gate to the University, Zeughaus, Statue of Blücher and Opera; Side of Opera and Part of Dome of St Hedwigskirche; St Hedwigskirche, with Side Steps of Opera and Royal Library’ 1835
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 14 Recto
Berlin: Looking Eastwards along Unter den Linden with Entrance Gate to the University, Zeughaus, Statue of Blücher and Opera; Side of Opera and Part of Dome of St Hedwigskirche; St Hedwigskirche, with Side Steps of Opera and Royal Library 1835
D31048
Turner Bequest CCCVII 15
Pencil on cream laid paper, 89 x 162 mm
Watermarked with a beehive surrounded by garlands and bees
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘5’, ‘7’ for the bays of the Opera top centre; ‘6 Doric ½ the W’ top right; ‘6 | Fridericus 6 Apollini & Mus’ bottom right
Inscribed in red ink by Ruskin ‘15’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCCVII–15’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The principal sketch shows Berlin’s Unter den Linden, and encompasses the University entrance gate at left, the Zeughaus (Old Arsenal), and Opera House at right. At bottom right Turner has copied the inscription on the Opera House’s portico. It reads: ‘Fridericus Rex Apolloni et Musis’, a dedication ensuring that the people of Berlin drew the appropriate connections between the monarch who erected the building, Frederick the Great (1712–86), and Apollo (god of music). The statue seen close to the steps of the Opera House is of Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher (1742–1819), the Prussian general who led his army against Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig (1813) and Waterloo (1815).
At top left is the façade of the Opera House and part of the dome of St Hedwigskirche. At top right is a view of St Hedwigskirche with the steps of the Opera House and the Royal Library. Turner has made note of the number of bays on the Opera House as ‘5’ and ‘7’, as well as the number of columns: ‘6 Doric ½ the W[idth]’.
For other sketches of Berlin see Tate D21045–D31082; Turner Bequest CCCVII 13a–32.

Alice Rylance-Watson
May 2015

How to cite

Alice Rylance-Watson, ‘Berlin: Looking Eastwards along Unter den Linden with Entrance Gate to the University, Zeughaus, Statue of Blücher and Opera; Side of Opera and Part of Dome of St Hedwigskirche; St Hedwigskirche, with Side Steps of Opera and Royal Library 1835 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2015, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, August 2017, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-berlin-looking-eastwards-along-unter-den-linden-with-r1186921, accessed 10 May 2024.