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

Finberg tentatively described the subject of this sunlit watercolour study as ‘River, with trees and castle on hill (? Rosenau)’;1 the identification was confirmed by Andrew Wilton.2 Turner was in Coburg, then capital of the German Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, between 17 and 20 September 1840, and made many drawings of the town and its surroundings in the Venice; Passau to Würzburg sketchbook; see under Tate D31278 (Turner Bequest CCCX 1a). He also went out to see Schloss Rosenau, in countryside beside the River Itz about four miles to the north-east (see under D31318; CCCX 22),3 making several of sketches of this relatively modest house and its elevated setting among trees above the river.

These informed his large oil painting of Schloss Rosenau, Seat of H.R.H. Prince Albert of Coburg, near Coburg, Germany, exhibited at the Royal Academy the following year (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool).4 Britain’s young Queen Victoria had married her cousin Prince Albert, who was born at the castle, in London on 10 February 1840, a few months before Turner’s tour. As Coburg and Rosenau involved a definite if minor departure from his ongoing homeward route, this suggests that Turner was already considering such a subject, although if he had hoped for royal patronage he was to be disappointed.5

As Cecilia Powell has observed: ‘It was not Turner’s usual practice to make watercolour studies as intermediate preparatory works ... However, this work provides a rare example of him doing just this’, being based on D31318, and ‘testifies to the great care with which Turner planned the painting’.6 (See the ‘Studies Related to Oil Paintings c.1819–46’ section of the present catalogue for a few other instances.) She has itemised the key aspects of the composition’s three-stage development:

This is one of three loose watercolours on conventional white sheets of scenes in the Coburg area (see also Tate D35948, D36187; Turner Bequest CCCLXIV 105, 329); there are additionally four colour studies on grey paper (D32186, D32187, D32188 and D32190; CCCXVII 7, 8, 9, 11).8 D35948 and D36187 are inscribed on their backs ‘10C’ and ‘11C’ respectively, leading Powell to speculate that Turner ‘may have contemplated a whole series of Coburg subjects, possibly to be engraved in a book on that town’ to capitalise on interest in its topical royal connections.9 She has suggested that D35948 and the present study, ‘stylistically very close’, were worked up at the same time from adjacent pages of the Venice; Passau to Würzburg book.10

Technical notes:

There is no underlying pencil work, and the colours are fresh and bright, with the castle left largely as reserved bare paper, its skyline being defined by the carefully applied blue wash of the sky around it.

Verso:

Blank; inscribed in pencil ‘69’ centre; stamped in black with Turner Bequest monogram over ‘CCCLXIV – 49’ bottom left.