In Turner’s Footsteps between Lucerne and Thun: #5 Lucerne from near the Hofkirche

Here we continue to explore the sketches in Turner’s Between Lucerne and Thun sketchbook, completing an excursion along the lake front from the Swan Hotel to some distance east of the Hofkirche. These sketches form the basis of a studio watercolour painted in 1845, from which we might infer that the visit was Turner’s last … Continue reading In Turner’s Footsteps between Lucerne and Thun: #5 Lucerne from near the Hofkirche →

In Turner’s Footsteps between Lucerne and Thun: #4 Lucerne from the Swan Hotel to the Hofkirche

In the second page-spread of Turner’s Between Lucerne and Thun sketchbook, the artist continues an excursion from the Hotel Swan at Lucerne along the lake front in the direction of the Hofkirche. In the 1840s most of this distance was spanned by an old wooden covered bridge, the Hofbrucke. Today, the area is Lucerne’s premier … Continue reading In Turner’s Footsteps between Lucerne and Thun: #4 Lucerne from the Swan Hotel to the Hofkirche →

In Turner’s Footsteps between Lucerne and Thun: #3 Lucerne, Schwanenplatz

Turner visited Lucerne several times in the early 1840s. He stayed at the Swan Hotel which was built in 1835. The building survives intact, but no longer functions as a hotel. A first floor restaurant, however, maintains the traditions of hospitality. In Turner's day it was the newest hotel on the lake front, and the … Continue reading In Turner’s Footsteps between Lucerne and Thun: #3 Lucerne, Schwanenplatz →

In Turner’s Footsteps between Lucerne and Thun: #2 Lucerne, Wasserturm and Kapellbrucke

Turner, like almost every visitor to Lucerne, started his exploration of the town at the covered bridge, the Kapellbrucke [Chapel Bridge]. This spans the River Reuss at its outflow from the Lake of Lucerne and is dominated by the spike of the Wasserturm [Water Tower]. The tower was built about 1330 as part of the … Continue reading In Turner’s Footsteps between Lucerne and Thun: #2 Lucerne, Wasserturm and Kapellbrucke →

In Turner’s Footsteps between Lucerne and Thun: #1 Back to the Beginning

The recent appearance of a Turner watercolour called ‘Lake Lucerne at Dusk’ at Sotheby’s Old Master Drawings sale in New York on 27 January reminds me of unfinished business. The very first article on Sublimesites.co was about a Turner watercolour of the Lungernsee which Turner visited and sketched whilst making a tour from Lucerne to … Continue reading In Turner’s Footsteps between Lucerne and Thun: #1 Back to the Beginning →

Turner’s Mont Cenis revisited

I recently heard from the French scholar Roland Courtot. I have drawn on his work before, especially with regard to Sisteron. He has spent many years engaged in topographical research in relation to artists in the Alps. He has archived much of his work in the online research archive of the University of Aix-Marseille and … Continue reading Turner’s Mont Cenis revisited →

The Lake of Lucerne and Mont Rigi from the Swan Hotel., Lucerne; Called ‘The Rigi at Sunset’, c.1842

Lucerne Kunstmuseum, Switzerland Watercolour and gouache, 9 ¾ × 14 ¼ inches · 247 × 362 mm Turner catalogues: Wilton1472; tdb1577 This is a medium-sized watercolour sketch of broad lake scene, suffused with light and colour, with quays in the foreground, full of suggestions of activity. In the left distance is a rosy-coloured mountain with … Continue reading The Lake of Lucerne and Mont Rigi from the Swan Hotel., Lucerne; Called ‘The Rigi at Sunset’, c.1842 →

A newly-identified Val d’Aosta subject by Turner

Sometimes Sublime Sights appear completely out of the blue. The well-known scholar Timothy Wilcox recently sent me a photograph of the watercolour reproduced below. It forms part of an exceptional private collection which Tim is cataloguing for publication in due course. It appears to have been acquired as a Turner by an ancestor of the … Continue reading A newly-identified Val d’Aosta subject by Turner →

Turner at Brunnen, Lake Lucerne

2018 brings an especially Sublime sighting. On 30 January, Christie's, New York offers a superb late Turner watercolour of ‘The Lake of Lucerne from Brunnen, with a Steamer’. This is being sold by a private American collector, and was last seen in Britain when it was sold by Christie’s in London in 1976. The sale … Continue reading Turner at Brunnen, Lake Lucerne →

Update: Turner and Sisteron

One of the Turner highlights of 2016 was Ian Warrell’s splendid exhibition of ‘Turner et la Couleur’ which showed at the Hotel de Caumont, Centre d’Art at Aix en Provence 4 May to 18 September, and then as J M W Turner: Adventures in Colour’ [and STILL, FOR ONE MORE WEEK ONLY] at Turner Contemporary, … Continue reading Update: Turner and Sisteron →