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, near ?Valence 1828

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Views of the Rhône Valley, near ?Valence’ 1828
Folio 15 Verso:
Views of the Rhône Valley, near ?Valence 1828
D21019
Turner Bequest CCXXX 15a
Pencil on cream lined wove paper, 111 x 145 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the sketchbook turned horizontally, Turner made four swift topographical profiles of the Rhône valley, layering them in close proximity on the page. The geographer and Turner researcher Roland Courtot has identified the second profile from the top as the left bank of the Rhône, south of Valence, with the mountainous profile of the Saoû forest on the horizon.1 Their rough appearance suggests the speed and economy with which Turner worked, combining multiple views on a single page.
1
Roland Courtot, ‘6. Le carnet du voyage de Turner de Lyon à Marseille (CCXXX) (1)’, Carnets de voyage de Turner, accessed 29 January 2024, https://carnetswt.hypotheses.org/463.
Technical notes:
A tear towards the top-right corner of the page has been repaired.

Hannah Kaspar
March 2024

How to cite

Hannah Kaspar, ‘Views of the Rhône Valley, near ?Valence 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-near-valence-r1209678, accessed 15 April 2025.