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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Meuse-Mosel, Luxembourg and Northern ... > Trèves and Rhine Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Trier from Pallien, Looking up the Moselle with the Roman Bridge in the Distance and the Napoleonsbrücke on the Right 1824

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Trier from Pallien, Looking up the Moselle with the Roman Bridge in the Distance and the Napoleonsbrücke on the Right’ 1824
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 8 Recto:
Trier from Pallien, Looking up the Moselle with the Roman Bridge in the Distance and the Napoleonsbrücke on the Right 1824
D20146
Turner Bequest CCXVIII 8
Pencil, watercolour and chalk on white wove paper, 220 x 291 mm
Inscribed in red ink by Ruskin ‘8’ bottom right
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCXVIII–8’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This drawing shows the ancient Roman city of Trier from the opposite bank of the Moselle at Pallien. The Römerbrücke, a bridge dating back from the second century AD, spans the river in the middle distance, leading the eye towards St Gangolf’s Church, the Cathedral of Saint Peter and Liebfrauenkirche at left. In the foreground at far right, is a section of the Napoleonsbrücke, a legacy of engineering left by the Napoleonic regime. This stone road bridge was constructed in the early nineteenth century across the gorge at Pallien to facilitate the French Imperial armies’ efficient passage from Trier to Aachen.
The stillness of the river and skies evoke a sense of placidity, a stillness associated with the earliest morning hours or twilight. Turner’s palette is rich and complex, comprised of a range of mauve, rust, moss, teal and olive watercolour. Pigment is applied in translucent strokes and daubs, which are in some areas layered with dry brush and in others left to bleed and feather into one another.
Turner drew similar scenes of Trier from Pallien in this sketchbook on Tate D20148, D20149, D20151; Turner Bequest CCXVIII 10, 11, 13. See also the Rivers Meuse and Moselle sketchbook of 1824 (Tate D19729, D19733–D19738; Turner Bequest CCXVI 90a, 92a–95) and the later watercolour and gouache drawing of 1839 (Tate D24715; Turner Bequest CCLIX 150).
Verso:
Inscribed in pencil ‘CCXVIII 8’ at bottom centre.

Alice Rylance-Watson
December 2013

How to cite

Alice Rylance-Watson, ‘Trier from Pallien, Looking up the Moselle with the Roman Bridge in the Distance and the Napoleonsbrücke on the Right 1824 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, December 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, April 2015, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-trier-from-pallien-looking-up-the-moselle-with-the-roman-r1174885, accessed 21 November 2024.