J M W
TURNER
Great Britain
1775
–
1851
172.7 (h) x 223.5 (w) cm Tate Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856 Photo: © Tate 2013
Once considered a view of Italy, this composition has been traced to a small drawing in a sketchbook Turner used while travelling through northern France in the late 1820s. In place of the towers of Rouen Cathedral, he has introduced a patch of watery sunlight to contrast against the foreground shadows. The reclining figures are found in the sketchbook drawing but they also recall the pastoral scenes of the French painter, Antoine Watteau, whose work Turner admired at the time.
Once considered a view of Italy, this composition has been traced to a small drawing in a sketchbook Turner used while travelling through northern France in the late 1820s. In place of the towers of Rouen Cathedral, he has introduced a patch of watery sunlight to contrast against the foreground shadows. The reclining figures are found in the sketchbook drawing but they also recall the pastoral scenes of the French painter, Antoine Watteau, whose work Turner admired at the time.
Once considered a view of Italy, this composition has been traced to a small drawing in a sketchbook Turner used while travelling through northern France in the late 1820s. In place of the towers of Rouen Cathedral, he has introduced a patch of watery sunlight to contrast against the foreground shadows. The reclining figures are found in the sketchbook drawing but they also recall the pastoral scenes of the French painter, Antoine Watteau, whose work Turner admired at the time.
