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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Second Italian Tour 1828-9 > Lyons to Marseilles Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Three Views of the Rhône Valley; a View of ?Pont-Saint-Esprit 1828

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Three Views of the Rhône Valley; a View of ?Pont-Saint-Esprit’ 1828
Folio 3 Recto:
Three Views of the Rhône Valley; a View of ?Pont-Saint-Esprit 1828
D20994
Turner Bequest CCXXX 3
Pencil on cream lined wove paper, 111 x 145 mm
Inscribed in blue ink by John Ruskin ‘3’ bottom right, descending vertically, and ‘4’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCXXX 3’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Four slight studies from Turner’s two-day boat journey from Lyon to Avignon fill this landscape-oriented page. The bottom sketch likely depicts the town of Pont-Saint-Esprit, situated on the right bank of the Rhône. It is distinguished by its magnificent medieval bridge, which Turner captured from multiple perspectives on folio 2 (D20992–D20993) and between folios 32 verso and 35 recto (D21051–D21056; Turner Bequest CCXXX 31a–34). Sparsely detailed by comparison, the three vistas above are difficult to identify due to their lack of distinguishing topographical features.
This page is out of sequence with the overall itinerary embodied by this sketchbook (see the Introduction), which begins near Lyon and ends near Toulon.

Hannah Kaspar
March 2024

How to cite

Hannah Kaspar, ‘Three Views of the Rhône Valley; a View of ?Pont-Saint-Esprit 1828’, catalogue entry, March 2024, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, February 2025, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/three-views-of-the-rhone-valley-a-view-of-pont-saint-esprit-r1209655, accessed 17 April 2025.