Joseph Mallord William Turner Harfleur c.1832
Joseph Mallord William Turner,
Harfleur
c.1832
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Harfleur c.1832
D24667
Turner Bequest CCLIX 102
Turner Bequest CCLIX 102
Gouache and watercolour on blue paper, 138 x 192 mm
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom right
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Exhibition history
1904
National Gallery, London, various dates to at least 1904 (126, as ‘Harfleur’).
1953
British Painters in France: Les Peintres anglais en France, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol, May–June 1953 (151).
1959
The Romantic Movement: Fifth Exhibition to Celebrate the Tenth Anniversary of the Council of Europe, Tate Gallery and Arts Council Gallery, London, July–September 1959 (448).
1974
Turner 1775–1851, Royal Academy, London, November 1974–March 1975 (397).
1975
Turner 1775–1851: zhivopis’, risunok, akvarel’, Hermitage Museum, Leningrad, October–November 1975, Pushkin Museum, Moscow, December 1975–January 1976 (46).
1976
J.M.W. Turner 1775–1851: Akvareller og Tegninger fra British Museum, Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, February–May 1976 (56).
1976
William Turner und die Landschaft seiner Zeit, Hamburger Kunsthalle, May–July 1976 (81).
1981
Turner en France: Aquarelles, peintures, dessins, gravures, carnets de croquis / Turner in France: Watercolours, Paintings, Drawings, Engravings, Sketchbooks, Centre Culturel du Marais, Paris, October 1981–January 1982 (120).
1999
Turner on the Seine, Tate Gallery, London, June–October 1999, Pavillon des Arts, Paris, October 1999–January 2000, Musée Malraux, Le Havre, March–June (119).
References
1904
E.T. Cook and Alexander Wedderburn eds., Library Edition: The Works of John Ruskin: Volume XIII: Turner: The Harbours of England; Catalogues and Notes, London 1904, pp.387, 613 no.126, as ‘Harfleur’.
1909
A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, London 1909, vol.II, p.794, CCLIX 102, as ‘Harfleur, on the Seine’.
1913
W[illiam] G[eorge] Rawlinson, The Engraved Work of J.M.W. Turner, R.A., vol.II, London 1913, p.266 under no.457.
1953
Denys Sutton, British Painters in France: Les Peintres anglais en France, exhibition catalogue, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol 1953, no.151.
1959
Kenneth Clark, Michel Florisoone, Geoffrey Grigson and others, The Romantic Movement: Fifth Exhibition to Celebrate the Tenth Anniversary of the Council of Europe, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery and Arts Council Gallery, London 1959, p.266, no.448, as ‘Harfleur’.
1829
Martin Butlin, Andrew Wilton and John Gage, Turner 1775–1851, exhibition catalogue, Royal Academy, London 1974, p.116 no.397, as ‘Harfleur c.1829’.
1975
Graham Reynolds, Turner 1775–1851: zhivopis’, risunok, akvarel’, exhibition catalogue, Hermitage Museum, Leningrad 1975, pp.13, [66] no.46, reproduced.
1976
David Loshak and Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner 1775–1851: Akvareller og Tegninger fra British Museum, exhibition catalogue, Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen 1976, p.58 no.56.
1976
Werner Hofmann, Andrew Wilton, Siegmar Hosten and others, William Turner und die Landschaft seiner Zeit, exhibition catalogue, Hamburger Kunsthalle 1976, pp.18, 136, reproduced, 137 no.81.
1977
Nicholas J. Alfrey, ‘Turner and the French Rivers’, unpublished MA Report, Courtauld Institute, University of London 1977, p.65.
1978
Watercolours from the Turner Bequest, Lent by the British Museum, Tate Gallery, London, January–June 1978 (no catalogue).
1979
Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.412 no. 955, reproduced.
1981
Maurice Guillaud, Nicholas Alfrey, Andrew Wilton and others, Turner en France: Aquarelles, peintures, dessins, gravures, carnets de croquis / Turner in France: Watercolours, Paintings, Drawings, Engravings, Sketchbooks, exhibition catalogue, Centre Culturel du Marais, Paris 1981, no.120, p.429, fig.889.
1982
Lindsay Stainton and Richard S. Schneiderman, J.M.W. Turner Watercolors from the British Museum, exhibition catalogue, Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, Athens 1982, p.59.
1990
Luke Herrmann, Turner Prints: The Engraved Work of J.M.W. Turner, Oxford 1990, p.172.
1993
Eric M. Lee, Translations: Turner and Printmaking, exhibition catalogue, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven 1993, p.41 no.173.
1995
Ian Warrell, Through Switzerland with Turner: Ruskin’s First Selection from the Turner Bequest, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1995, p.148 under nos.67–83.
1997
David Blayney Brown, Klaus Albrecht Schröder, Evelyn Benesch and others, Joseph Mallord William Turner, exhibition catalogue, Bank Austria Kunstforum, Vienna 1997, p.274 no.81.
1999
Ian Warrell, Turner on the Seine, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1999, pp.69, 80, 121, 273 no.119, fig.90.
Engraved:
By John Cousen in 1833, published in 1834.
By John Cousen in 1833, published in 1834.
In this watercolour Turner depicts boats in the harbour in the town of Harfleur, located on the Seine Estuary in northern France. The tower of the Church of Saint-Martin, Harfleur is identifiable in the background, highlighted in white gouache against its surrounding background of dark sky. Turner emphasises such contrasts of light and dark throughout the watercolour. The tower’s fair, pristine and soaring vertical shape is contrasted with the dark and horizontal, ribbed, carcass-like boat frame in the foreground. The dark shapes of the boat on the right contrast with the billowing white clouds of smoke on the left. The reflection of these white clouds contrasts further with the dark boat frame immediately below them. The figure in the right foreground is also conveyed in dramatically contrasting light and shade. Turner works his materials of watercolour, blue background paper and gouache together with particular subtlety to convey the shallow water against banks of land.
An engraving was made from this watercolour by John Cousen in 1833, as Harfleur (Tate impressions T05596 and T06225) for the volume Wanderings by the Seine of 1834.3 The building on the hillside in the far-right background has been highlighted more intensely in the engraving than in the original watercolour.
Verso:
Blank, except for an inscription ‘4’ in grey gouache in the upper left corner of the sheet, probably made by Turner. At centre of the sheet is a faint inscription possibly reading ‘[?17]’ in white chalk. The centre of the sheet is stamped, with the Turner Bequest monogram above the number ‘CCLIX -102’, which is also written in pencil above. There is some faint yellowish staining at lower right.
Caroline South
November 2017
How to cite
Caroline South, ‘Harfleur c.1832 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, November 2017, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2019, https://www