J M W TURNER | The St Gotthard Road between Amsteg and Wassen looking up the Reuss Valley

J M W TURNER
Great Britain 1775 – 1851

The St Gotthard Road between Amsteg and Wassen looking up the Reuss Valley c.1803 or 1814–15 gouache, pencil and watercolour on paper
67.5 (h) x 101.0 (w) cm Tate Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856 Photo: © Tate 2013

Turner was an inveterate traveller but remained cut off from continental Europe as a result of the Napoleonic wars (1792–1815). During the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, a short-lived truce between Britain, France, Spain and Holland, he travelled to Paris and toured Switzerland, making numerous sketches of alpine scenery. In this large watercolour he draws on the language of the Sublime. The angular trees and sombre palette evoke the German Romantic painters.

Turner was an inveterate traveller but remained cut off from continental Europe as a result of the Napoleonic wars (1792–1815). During the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, a short-lived truce between Britain, France, Spain and Holland, he travelled to Paris and toured Switzerland, making numerous sketches of alpine scenery. In this large watercolour he draws on the language of the Sublime. The angular trees and sombre palette evoke the German Romantic painters.

Turner was an inveterate traveller but remained cut off from continental Europe as a result of the Napoleonic wars (1792–1815). During the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, a short-lived truce between Britain, France, Spain and Holland, he travelled to Paris and toured Switzerland, making numerous sketches of alpine scenery. In this large watercolour he draws on the language of the Sublime. The angular trees and sombre palette evoke the German Romantic painters.