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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > First Italian Tour 1819-20 > Return from Italy Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Two River Landscapes, Including a Distant View of Lyon; and a Study of a Tower at Lyon 1820

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Two River Landscapes, Including a Distant View of Lyon; and a Study of a Tower at Lyon’ 1820
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 35 Verso:
Two River Landscapes, Including a Distant View of Lyon; and a Study of a Tower at Lyon 1820
D16708
Turner Bequest CXCII 34 a
Pencil on white wove paper, 98 x 128 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘Lyon’ top right, parallel with right-hand edge
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This page contains two river scenes, the uppermost of which represents a distant view of Lyon from the approach to the south-east. The prospect includes two separate bridges which represent a couple of the crossing points to the Presqu’île, a peninsula formed by the convergence of the Saône and Rhône rivers. For further sketches of Lyon see folio 37 verso (D16712; Turner Bequest CXCII 36a).
At the top of the page, executed with the sketchbook held vertically, is a further drawing. This appears to be a very rough study of a tower. The subject is unidentified although Turner has labelled it as relating to ‘Lyon’.

Nicola Moorby
April 2013

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Two River Landscapes, Including a Distant View of Lyon; and a Study of a Tower at Lyon 1820 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, August 2013, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-two-river-landscapes-including-a-distant-view-of-lyon-and-a-r1142608, accessed 20 February 2025.