Joseph Mallord William Turner Schloss Rosenau, near Coburg, from the Itz Valley 1840
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 22 Recto:
Schloss Rosenau, near Coburg, from the Itz Valley 1840
D31318
Turner Bequest CCCX 22
Turner Bequest CCCX 22
Pencil on cream wove paper, 126 x 198 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Alders’ left of centre, and ‘RWR’ towards top right, by flag
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘22’ top right, ascending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCCX – 22’ top right, ascending vertically
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Alders’ left of centre, and ‘RWR’ towards top right, by flag
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘22’ top right, ascending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCCX – 22’ top right, ascending vertically
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Exhibition history
2014
Late Turner: Painting Set Free, Tate Britain, London, September 2014–January 2015, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, February–May 2015, de Young, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, June–September 2015, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, October 2015–January 2016 (18, as ‘Coburg: Schloss Rosenau from the Itz Valley’, 1840, reproduced in colour).
References
1909
A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, London 1909, vol.II, p.997, CCCX 22, as ‘Rosenau. See Oil painting exhibited R.A., 1841, and now in possession of Mrs. G. Holt.’.
1971
Hardy George, ‘Turner in Venice’, The Art Bulletin, vol.53, March 1971, p.86, as 1840.
1984
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984, p.242 under no.392.
1990
Frank Milner, J.M.W. Turner: Paintings in Merseyside Collections: Walker Art Gallery; Sudley Art Gallery; Williamson Art Gallery; Lady Lever Art Gallery; Liverpool University Art Gallery, Liverpool 1990, p.63 under no.32, as ‘Study for Schloss Rosenau’, reproduced.
1995
Cecilia Powell, Turner in Germany, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1995, pp.72, 82 note 65, 172 under no.102, 173 under no.103, 176–7 under no.107, reproduced, p.242, as ‘Coburg: Schloss Rosenau from the Itz valley | Inscr. Alders; RWR (by the white and red striped flag on the castle)’.
1995
Pia Müller-Tamm, ‘»... als breitete ein dichter Morgennebel seinen Schleier aus«: Deutsche Landschaften in malerischen Spätwerk J.M.W. Turners’ in Cecilia Powell and Müller-Tamm, William Turner in Deutschland, exhibition catalogue, [Städtische] Kunsthalle Mannheim 1995, pp.121, 122 fig.68, 124.
2014
Nicola Moorby in David Blayney Brown, Amy Concannon and Sam Smiles (eds.), Late Turner: Painting Set Free, exhibition catalogue, Tate Britain, London 2014, pp.84–5 no.18, as ‘Coburg: Schloss Rosenau from the Itz Valley’, 1840, reproduced in colour.
As has long been recognised, this horizontal view shows Schloss Rosenau, in countryside beside the River Itz about four miles north-east of Coburg (see under folio 1 verso; D31278),1 and relates closely to the painting Schloss Rosenau, Seat of H.R.H. Prince Albert of Coburg, near Coburg, Germany exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1841 (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool).2
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (1819–1861), had been born at the castle, a relatively modest ducal seat in hunting lodge style; he had married his cousin Queen Victoria in London on 10 February 1840, a few months before Turner’s tour, doubtless explaining the artist’s interest in the picturesque but otherwise largely unremarkable scene as a potential subject, not least with long-sought royal patronage in mind. The viewpoint is beside the gently meandering river, looking downstream to the south and up over the trees to the gabled castle, with its modest formal gardens set on a high terrace running north-west to a small free-standing tower.
There are sketches of other aspects and various details inside the front cover, and on folios 8 recto, 21 verso opposite, 23 verso, 24 recto, 62 verso, 63 recto and 64 recto (D41400, D31291, D31317, D31321–D31322, D31399–D31400, D31402).3 Compare also a loosely painted watercolour (Tate D35889; Turner Bequest CCCLXIV 49) which appears to represent an intermediate ‘colour beginning’-type stage towards the oil composition; while common in the development of Turner’s mature finished watercolours from his direct pencil studies (see for example those gathered in the ‘England and Wales Colour Studies c.1825–39’ section of this catalogue), such direct equivalents are rare survivors in relation to paintings.4
Butlin and Joll 1984, pp.241–2 no.392, pl.396 (colour); for a disputed close variant/copy (Yale Center for British Art, New Haven), see p.279 no.442, pl.397; the connection with this page is noted ibid., p.242; see also Finberg 1909, II, p.997, George 1971, p.86, Milner 1990, p.63, Powell 1995, pp.176–7, Pia Müller-Tamm 1995, pp.121, 122, 124, and Moorby 2014, p.85.
Technical notes:
Cecilia Powell has characterised this leaf as ‘disfigured by two large dog-ears’ where the outer corners were formerly folded diagonally for ease of reference, suggesting that they were made ‘so as to be able to flick it to and fro while consulting [this page] and [folio 23 recto; D31320] at the same time’ when working on the watercolour study of the present subject and a technically similar one of Coburg (Tate D35948; Turner Bequest CCCLXIV 105).1
Matthew Imms
September 2018
How to cite
Matthew Imms, ‘Schloss Rosenau, near Coburg, from the Itz Valley 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