Joseph Mallord William Turner Paris from the Barrière de Passy c.1833
Joseph Mallord William Turner,
Paris from the Barrière de Passy
c.1833
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Paris from the Barrière de Passy c.1833
D24682
Turner Bequest CCLIX 117
Turner Bequest CCLIX 117
Gouache and watercolour on blue paper, 143 x 194 mm
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCLIX – 117’ bottom right
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCLIX – 117’ 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 (141, as ‘Paris: View from the Barrière de Passy’).
1963
Turner Watercolors from The British Museum: A Loan Exhibition Circulated by the Smithsonian Institution, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, September–October 1963, Museum of Fine Arts of Houston, Texas, November, M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, December 1963–January 1964, Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio, January–March, William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, March–April, Brooklyn Museum, New York, May, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, June–July (34).
1938
La Peinture anglaise: XVIIIe & XIXe siècles, Louvre, Paris, February–August 1938 (244[a]).
1970
Turner: Watercolours Lent by the British Museum, Musée Provisoire d’Art Moderne, Brussels, November 1970–January 1971 (55).
1974
Turner 1775–1851, Royal Academy, London, November 1974–March 1975 (405).
1976
J.M.W. Turner 1775–1851: Akvareller og Tegninger fra British Museum, Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, February–May 1976 (60).
1976
William Turner und die Landschaft seiner Zeit, Hamburger Kunsthalle, May–July 1976 (79).
1978
Turner 1775–1851, Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, December 1978–February 1979 (42).
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 (147).
1974
Turner 1775–1851, Royal Academy, London, November 1974–March 1975 (405).
1979
Oleos y acuarelas de Joseph Mallord William Turner, Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela, October[–?November] 1979 (BM 40).
1979
Exposicion del gran pintor ingles, William Turner: Oleos y acuarelas: Collecciones de la Tate Gallery, British Museum y otros museos ingleses, Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, August–September 1979 (BM 40).
1983
Turner Abroad: Watercolours from the Turner Bequest Loaned by the British Museum, Tate Gallery, London, June–December 1983 (no catalogue).
1992
Turner: The Fifth Decade: Watercolours 1830–1840, Tate Gallery, London, February–May 1992 (34).
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 (145).
2001
William Turner: Licht und Farbe, Museum Folkwang, Essen, September 2001–January 2002, Kunsthaus Zürich, February–May (163).
2007
Colour and Line: Turner’s Experiments, Tate Britain, London, April–November 2007.
2016
Turner’s Urban Landscapes, Tate Britain, London, July 2016–May 2018 (no catalogue).
References
1834
Spectator, 6 December 1834, p.1167.
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, 614 no.141, as ‘Paris: View from the Barrière de Passy’.
1909
A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, London 1909, vol.II, p.795, CCLIX 117, as ‘Paris: View from the Barrière de Passy’.
1913
W[illiam] G[eorge] Rawlinson, The Engraved Work of J.M.W. Turner, R.A., vol.II, London 1913, p.274 under no.485.
1938
Henri Verne, Laurence Binyon and Louis Gillet, La Peinture anglaise: XVIIIe & XIXe siècles, exhibition catalogue, Louvre, Paris 1938, no.244(a).
1963
Edward Croft-Murray, Turner Watercolors from The British Museum: A Loan Exhibition Circulated by the Smithsonian Institution, exhibition catalogue, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC 1963, p.11, [37], no.34, reproduced.
1970
Luke Herrmann, Turner: Watercolours Lent by the British Museum, exhibition catalogue, Musée Provisoire d’Art Moderne, Brussels 1970, pp.9, [53] no.55, reproduced.
1829
Martin Butlin, Andrew Wilton and John Gage, Turner 1775–1851, exhibition catalogue, Royal Academy, London 1974, p.120 no.405, as ‘Paris: View of the Seine from the Barrière de Passy, with the Louvre in the Distance c.1829’.
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.59 no.60.
1976
Werner Hofmann, Andrew Wilton, Siegmar Hosten and others, William Turner und die Landschaft seiner Zeit, exhibition catalogue, Hamburger Kunsthalle 1976, p.18 no.76.
1977
Andrew Wilton, Turner Watercolors: An Exhibition of Works Loaned by The Trustees of the British Museum, exhibition catalogue, Cleveland Museum of Art 1977, p.57 under no.38.
1978
John Sillevis, Nini Jonker and Hripsimé Visser, Turner 1775–1851, exhibition catalogue, Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague 1978, p.71 no.42.
1979
John Gage and Ana T. de Gradowska, Oleos y acuarelas de Joseph Mallord William Turner, exhibition catalogue, Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela 1979, no.BM 40.
1979
John Gage, Exposicion del gran pintor ingles, William Turner: Oleos y acuarelas: Collecciones de la Tate Gallery, British Museum y otros museos ingleses, exhibition catalogue, Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City 1979, p.36 no.BM 40, reproduced.
1832
Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.416 no.983, reproduced, as ‘Paris: view of the Seine from the Barrière de Passy, with the Louvre in the distance c.1832’.
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.147, p.458, fig.915.
1982
Andrew Wilton, Turner Abroad: France; Italy; Germany; Switzerland, London 1982, pp.49–50 no.53, pl.53 (colour).
1990
Luke Herrmann, Turner Prints: The Engraved Work of J.M.W. Turner, Oxford 1990, p.178, fig.142.
1992
Anne Lyles, Turner: The Fifth Decade: Watercolours 1830–1840, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1992, p.18, reproduced in colour p.31, pp.63 no.34, reproduced, 65 under nos.37–8.
1993
Eric M. Lee, Translations: Turner and Printmaking, exhibition catalogue, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven 1993, p.43 under no.182.
1997
David Blayney Brown, Klaus Albrecht Schröder, Evelyn Benesch and others, Joseph Mallord William Turner, exhibition catalogue, Bank Austria Kunstforum, Vienna 1997, p.278 under no.83.
1999
Ian Warrell, Turner on the Seine, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1999, pp.19, 43, 69, 80, 191, 230, 257 note 28, 277 no.145, fig.230 (colour).
2001
Andrew Wilton, Inge Bodesohn-Vogel and Helena Robinson, William Turner: Licht und Farbe, exhibition catalogue, Museum Folkwang, Essen 2001, p.227 no.163.
Engraved:
By J.T. Willmore in 1834, published in 1835
By J.T. Willmore in 1834, published in 1835
In this watercolour, Turner presents a view over the River Seine in Paris, France, from the Barrière de Bonshommes (at times also named the Barrière de Passy), one of the customs houses and entrances to the city. He portrays a sun glowing over distant Parisian buildings – the Tuileries and Louvre palaces on the horizon right of centre, the two towers of the Church of Notre-Dame further left and the dome of the Panthéon at furthest left. He depicts the sun’s reflection illuminating the water below, in a manner reminiscent of the renowned seventeenth-century French landscape painter, Claude Lorrain, whom Turner admired. Turner also picks out the edges of the statue and its plinth at left with sunlight. He hints at figures and activity and provisions on the quay below and includes lines of soldiers curving away along the road into the distance. The activity and bright cool-toned light suggest morning.
The watercolour is based on a pencil sketch (Tate D24473; Turner Bequest CCLVII 156)1 from Turner’s Paris and Environs sketchbook of 1832, as well as possibly another (Tate D14013; Turner Bequest CLXXIII 14)2 from his Paris, France, Savoy 2 sketchbook of 1819. Turner may also have consulted the rough studies of the Seine at Passy in his Loire, Tours, Orléans, Paris sketchbook of 1829 (Tate D23320–D23324; Turner Bequest CCXLIX 38a–40a).3
An engraving was made of this watercolour by J.T. Willmore in 1834 as Paris from the Barrière de Passy (Tate impressions T04719 and T06257) for the volume Wanderings by the Seine of 1835.4 Highlights are picked out in greater detail in the engraving. As art historian Anne Lyles points out, Turner’s sequence of images in the volume lead the reader gradually from country to city, and with this scene the viewer finds themselves about to enter the urban bustle.5
Verso:
Previous records note the inscriptions ‘16 Paris from the Berrier Passy’ and in pencil ‘13’; however, at the time of writing the watercolour was on display and the back therefore not available for examination and confirmation.
Caroline South
November 2017
How to cite
Caroline South, ‘Paris from the Barrière de Passy c.1833 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