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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1836-47 Modern painter > Venice, Austria and Southern Germany ... > The Route to Venice: The Rivers Mosel ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Cochem on the River Mosel, from above the Enderttal 1840

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Cochem on the River Mosel, from above the Enderttal’ 1840
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Cochem on the River Mosel, from above the Enderttal 1840
D28992
Turner Bequest CCXCII 45
Pencil, watercolour and gouache on grey wove paper, 141 x 192 mm
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCXCII 45’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The subject was identified by Cecilia Powell.1 From the elevated viewpoint of the Pinnerberg above the Enderttal valley, Cochem is seen to the south up the River Mosel, with the ruins of the Burg (since elaborately restored and known as the Reichsburg) high up on the far side of the town. On its near side is the Baroque spire of St Martin’s Church, with its profile repeated at the bottom right.2 The elaborate gable below the centre marks the picturesque Enderttor gatehouse, with the Klosterberg beyond. Pencil has been used over the colour to elaborate architectural features.
Powell has noted that this is the only 1840 Cochem colour view to show the church and the Enderttor clearly; he had focused on them in two upright gouache studies on blue paper associated with his tour of a year earlier (respectively Tate D20253, D24806; Turner Bequest CCXXI T, CCLIX 241): ‘The tonality and handling of the present work are similar to those in both the earlier scenes, showing that Turner deliberately sought out a favoured viewpoint at the same time of day as on his previous visit.’3
D29000 (CCXCII 51) shows a comparable prospect from further back, without the network of outline detail. For numerous other contemporary studies of Cochem see under D28950 (CXCII 3); and for the full range of Mosel subjects associated with the present tour, see the Introduction to this subsection.
The verso, D41476 (CCXCII 45v), shows a similar view in pencil alone, from slightly further west.
1
See Powell 1995, p.148.
2
See ibid.
3
Ibid.
Technical notes:
Cecilia Powell has noted this as one of the many sheets of grey 1829 Bally, Ellen and Steart paper used on Turner’s 1840 tour, neatly torn as eighths or sixteenths of the overall sheet, with dimensions of around 190 x 280 or 140 x 190 mm, and variously worked with pencil, watercolour and gouache; see the technical notes in the overall Introduction for others.1

Matthew Imms
September 2018

1
See ibid., p.145.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Cochem on the River Mosel, from above the Enderttal 1840 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2018, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2019, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-cochem-on-the-river-mosel-from-above-the-enderttal-r1196406, accessed 23 April 2024.