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 Views of the Rhône Valley, with Buildings 1828

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Views of the Rhône Valley, with Buildings’ 1828
Folio 8 Recto:
Views of the Rhône Valley, with Buildings 1828
D21004
Turner Bequest CCXXX 8
Pencil on cream lined wove paper, 145 x 111 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘[?Fetid] water’, below centre
Inscribed in blue ink by John Ruskin ‘8’ bottom left, and ‘4’ top left, upside down
Stamped in black ‘CCXXX 8’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner executed these three studies as he journeyed south by boat along the Rhône valley from Lyon to Avignon. Their cursory appearance suggests the speed at which Turner worked, taking advantage of his mode of transport as the scenery unfolded before his eyes. A precise location remains to be identified, although the subject is possibly the stretch of river between Vienne and Andance, given the position of this work in the sketchbook’s chronology. These studies are inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation.
Technical notes:
A tear to the lower edge of the page has been repaired with glue, which has caused a brown stain.

Hannah Kaspar
March 2024

How to cite

Hannah Kaspar, ‘Views of the Rhône Valley, with Buildings 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/views-of-the-rhone-valley-with-buildings-r1209665, accessed 15 April 2025.