Explorations in the footsteps of Turner, Cotman, Ruskin and others with Professor David Hill
This post continues the essay begun on 19 October 2015 and continued on 18 November 2015. In part #1, I followed in the footsteps of Turner’s comprehensive exploration of Heidelberg in 1833. In part #2, I looked at a major finished watercolour that he developed in the early 1840s, and a return visit to Heidelberg … Continue reading In Turner’s Footsteps at Heidelberg: Part 3
This post continues the essay begun on 19 October 2015. There, I followed in the footsteps of Turner’s comprehensive and systematic exploration of Heidelberg in 1833. Here, I look at a major finished watercolour that he developed in the early 1840s, and a return visit to Heidelberg at the same time. After the visit of … Continue reading In Turner’s Footsteps at Heidelberg: Part 2
On 27 February 2015 I announced that the Pilkington Anglo-Japanese Cultural Foundation had commissioned a SublimeSites exploration of Turner’s associations with Heidelberg. I promised to visit the site in May but then remembered that Cecilia Powell had discovered in Turner and Germany (1995, p.74) the actual dates on which Turner stayed in Heidelberg in 1844; … Continue reading In Turner’s Footsteps at Heidelberg: Part 1
Thanks to the support of the Pilkington Anglo-Japanese Cultural Foundation I was able to make a site visit to Rome 10-14 April 2015. This was to visit the exact viewpoint of Turner's painting of Rome from Mount Aventine that was sold at Sotheby's in London in December 2014 for a record £30.3m. It is a … Continue reading Rome Revisited
This article is prompted by a watercolour that Turner made on his tour to the Alps in 1836. That tour was the subject of the exhibition Turner, Mont Blanc and the Val d’Aosta held at the Archaeological Museum in Aosta in 2000. At that time I identified its subject as the French town of Sallanches, … Continue reading Turner at Sallanches, 1836
I am pleased to report that Sublimesites has received a second commission from the Pilkington Anglo-Japanese Cultural Foundation. This will fund site research in May into the topography of a wonderful later painting by Turner of Heidelberg. I have always loved the extraordinary crowd, gathered as if at some prototype of Glastonbury to celebrate a … Continue reading Turner and Heidelberg: A second Pilkington Foundation Commission
This article gives some thought to a major painting by J.M.W.Turner, Rome from Mount Aventine, sold at Sotheby’s, London, on 3 December 2014 for £30.3m. Most previous accounts have accepted its topography more-or-less at face value: It turns out to be intriguingly deviant. I spent most of my teaching career extolling the imperative of drawing. … Continue reading Turner in Italy: Rome from Mount Aventine, 1836
On 10 July 2014 Christie’s in London will sell a Turner watercolour of Binger Loch and Mausethurm (lot 214, estimate £200,000 – 300,000). This is one of a series of fifty-one* watercolours that Turner made in 1817 when he made a tour of the river Rhine between Cologne and Mainz. On Turner’s return the whole … Continue reading Turner on the Rhine: Binger Loch and Mausethurm
This article is the third to explore Turner’s Sisteron subjects in the light of my recent visit to the site. Here I focus on a watercolour in the collection of the Museum of Rhode Island School of Design that records the view of the Pont du Buech from the west. The bridge spans the river … Continue reading Turner at Sisteron: The Pont du Buech, looking west
This article extends the exploration of Turner’s Sisteron subjects in the light of a recent visit 12-14 April. In particular I focus on a watercolour of Sisteron from the North-West that was sold at Christie’s, New York, on 5 November 2013. This was the occasion of my earlier article ‘Moonlight and its implications: Turner at … Continue reading Turner at Sisteron: Continued Observations
Sublime Sites 