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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1836-47 Modern painter > The Second Meuse-Moselle Tour 1839 > Givet, Mézières, Verdun, Metz, Luxemburg ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Fortifications at Mézières outside the Port de Saint-Julien; Trier with the Ruins of the Imperial Baths on the Left 1839

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Fortifications at Mézières outside the Port de Saint-Julien; Trier with the Ruins of the Imperial Baths on the Left’ 1839
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 14 Verso:
Fortifications at Mézières outside the Port de Saint-Julien; Trier with the Ruins of the Imperial Baths on the Left 1839
D28194
Turner Bequest CCLXXXVIII 14 a
Pencil on cream laid writing paper, 101 x 168 mm
Partial Pro Patria watermark
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The fortified wall and arched gateway at Mézières’ Porte de Saint-Julien is depicted here and once again on the opposite folio (Tate D28195; Turner Bequest CCLXXXVIII 15).
A profile of the ancient Roman city of Trier (Trèves) has been drawn inversely, running parallel to the gutter. Trier’s imperial baths also feature on folio 10 verso (Tate D28186; Turner Bequest CCLXXXVIII 10a).
For further depictions of Trier in this sketchbook see Tate D28206, D28207, D28244, D28246, D28249, D28250, D28256, D28258–D28260, D28263, D28264; Turner Bequest CCLXXXVIII 20a, 21, 42a, 43a, 45a, 46, 50, 51–52, 54a, 55). The city is also depicted in earlier sketchbooks associated with Turner’s 1824 tour of the region; see the Rivers Meuse and Moselle sketchbook (Tate D19725, D19726, D19728–D19730, D19732–D19743; Turner Bequest CCLXXXVIII 88a, 89, 90–91, 92–97a; the Huy and Dinant sketchbook (Tate D20091, D20111, D20115; Turner Bequest CCXVII 5, 17a, 21; the Trèves and Rhine sketchbook (Tate D20141, D20142, D20145, D20146, D20148, D20149–D20154; Turner Bequest CCXVIII 3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11–16. See also two gouache and watercolour drawings of the city: one of the Porta Nigra (Tate D20230; Turner Bequest CCXX W) and the other of Trier from the west (Tate D24715; Turner Bequest CCLIX 150).

Alice Rylance-Watson
May 2013

How to cite

Alice Rylance-Watson, ‘Fortifications at Mézières outside the Port de Saint-Julien; Trier with the Ruins of the Imperial Baths on the Left 1839 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-fortifications-at-mezieres-outside-the-port-de-saint-julien-r1150471, accessed 17 July 2024.