- Museum number
- 1958,0712.418
- Description
-
Four boats on the river Rhine with mountainous landscape and a view of Schloss Johannisberg in the background. 1817
Watercolour on white paper prepared with grey wash
- Production date
- 1817
- Dimensions
-
Height: 213 millimetres
-
Width: 337 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- Sloan 1998
On his journey up the Rhine, Turner covered the thirty-five miles from St Goar to Mainz in one day, 25 August. He walked the first half on the west bank, making quick sketches as he passed the Lorelei, Hirzenach, Sooneck, Lorch and all the villages and castles dotted between them, and then, pausing in Bingen long enough to make sketches of the town, he caught a boat for the remainder of that day's journey. In this, the final section of the Rhine he was to visit, the river assumes a completely different character from the winding bends and cliffs of the Middle Rhine with its picturesque villages, sharply sloping vineyards and omnipresent castles and ruins. Known as the Rheingau, this stretch is tranquil and peaceful, its calm expansive width dotted with islands and bordered by spreading villages and more gentle hills, their slopes covered with undulating vineyards.
Turner probably boarded the regular passage boat, which was drawn by horses, and as a result of this and the completely different landscape before him, his sketches for this stage are understandably more panoramic, recording long stretches of the river's banks, its villages dotted with spires and low hills capped with palaces and monasteries, including the famous priory of St John on the hill in the distance here. Even at horse-pace, impressions followed one another in quick succession, as witnessed by Turner's notes on his sketch for this view. "Edrich; Johannisberg; Vines; Elfeldt; Clouds".¹ This watercolour and the view of Biebrich Palace (1958,0712.420) demonstrate Turner's ability to respond instantly to a completely different atmosphere as well as a different landscape. The broad expanse of the river enabled him to display a wide variety of the river craft he had been studying so carefully as he progressed along it, and gave him ample opportunity to work his magic in the sparkling reflections on its calm surface and the scattered clouds dragging a misty shower across the sky.
1. TB CLX 70v-71; Powell 1991, p. 198, and 1995, pp. 25-6.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1889, RA, no.27
1902, Lawrie & Co., no.15
1913, Agnew's, no. 12
1951, Agnew's, no. 59
1959, 1960, BM
1966 Feb, BM, Turner Lloyd Bequest, no.13
1969 Feb, BM, Turner Lloyd Bequest, no.13
1975 BM, Turner in the BM, no.49
1985, BM, British Landscape Watercolours 1600-1860, no.89b
1998 May-Sept., BM, J.M.W.Turner: Lloyd Bequest, no.19
- Previous owner
-
Previous owner/ex-collection: Walter Fawkes
-
Previous owner/ex-collection: Frederick H Fawkes (Bt Agnew's 22 July 1912 (with 20 others), £800 (stock 7868); Agnew's, Manchester 1912 (41) 1,350 gns, bt H E Walters 7 February 1913, £1,450)
-
Previous owner/ex-collection: H E Walters (Bt Agnew's 27 March 1918, £1,300 (one of a group of watercolours purchased by them from Walters, stock 8774); group sold 6 May 1918 to A E Lawley for £10,000.)
-
Previous owner/ex-collection: A E Lawley (His sale Christie's 25.ii.1921/127, bt Agnew's for Lloyd, £126 plus 5% commission £6 6s. (stock 9924))
-
Previous owner/ex-collection: Rev Ayscough Fawkes (By descent to Frederick H. Fawkes)
- Acquisition date
- 1958
- Acquisition notes
- UNDER THE TERMS OF THE BEQUEST, NONE OF THE PRINTS OR DRAWINGS BEQUEATHED BY R. W. LLOYD MAY BE LENT OUTSIDE THE BRITISH MUSEUM (Registration Numbers 1958,0712.318 to 3149).
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1958,0712.418
