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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner

Joseph Mallord William Turner Burg Lahneck; a Distant View of Aachen 1817

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Burg Lahneck; a Distant View of Aachen’ 1817
Folio 80 Verso:
Burg Lahneck; a Distant View of Aachen 1817
D12657
Turner Bequest CLIX 80a
Pencil on white wove paper, 56 x 106 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Aix la Ch’ bottom centre, beneath lower sketch
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner made these sketches of places many miles apart, on separate occasions. Inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, at the top of the page, mainly on the right, is a quick view of Burg Lahneck on the east bank of the Rhine, seen from across the river. Turner saw it first on 23 August 1817 as he walked upstream along the west bank, and again as he returned a few days later. Across the bottom of the page and extending slightly on to folio 81 opposite (D12658), is a panoramic view of Aachen, or Aix–la–Chapelle as noted by Turner, who was there on 17 and 31 August. Other distant views of it are on folios 86 verso and 87 recto (D12669–D12670).
A more detailed sketch of Burg Lahneck is on folio 81 verso (D12659).

David Blayney Brown
June 2025

How to cite

David Blayney Brown, ‘Burg Lahneck; a Distant View of Aachen 1817’, catalogue entry, June 2025, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, June 2026, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/burg-lahneck-a-distant-view-of-aachen-r1212020, accessed 31 July 2026.