Ruskin drawings at King’s College, Cambridge: #4 The Mer de Glace from the Montanvers Hotel above Chamonix

This is the fourth in a series of seven articles that will catalogue an important group of drawings by John Ruskin at King’s College, Cambridge. For general notes on the collection see under article #1. I have to admit that progress with the catalogue has been somewhat slow: Part #3 appeared in 2014. 4. The … Continue reading Ruskin drawings at King’s College, Cambridge: #4 The Mer de Glace from the Montanvers Hotel above Chamonix →

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 →

Update: Turner and Heidelberg – a newly identified source for the Tate painting

Since completing part #6 of the SublimeSites.co series on Turner and Heidelberg, I have discovered a potential literary source for the subject of the Tate oil painting. In part #6, I suggested that the composition of the painting was based on a sketch in the 'Mountain Fortress' sketchbook in the Turner Bequest at the Tate … Continue reading Update: Turner and Heidelberg – a newly identified source for the Tate painting →

News: Ruskin’s watercolour of Bellinzona

On 29 September 2014 Sublimesites.co published an article, ‘In Ruskin’s Footsteps at Bellinzona’. This focused on an important watercolour that Ruskin painted there in 1868, and for the first time identified his exact viewpoint. I notice with some interest therefore that Lowell Libson is exhibiting Bellinzona at the Maastrich Art Fair 11-20 March 2016. Alongside … Continue reading News: Ruskin’s watercolour of Bellinzona →

In Turner’s Footsteps at Heidelberg: Part 6

REVISED 14 April 2016 (DH) towards end, to discuss recently discovered poetic source This post concludes the essay begun on 19 October 2015 and continued on 18, 20 and 23 November 2015 and 17 January 2016. In part #1, I followed in the footsteps of Turner’s comprehensive exploration of Heidelberg in 1833. In part #2, … Continue reading In Turner’s Footsteps at Heidelberg: Part 6 →

In Ruskin’s Footsteps at Bellinzona: The Salita della Nocca

This article returns the attention of Sublimesites.co to the southern Swiss city of Bellinzona to investigate another site drawn by John Ruskin. Bellinzona has been the subject of two previous articles published on 29 September 2014. The new site is the Salita della Nocca, a narrow, cobbled path that climbs outside the walls to Montebello … Continue reading In Ruskin’s Footsteps at Bellinzona: The Salita della Nocca →

Turner at Sallanches, 1836

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 →

In Ruskin’s Footsteps: the Balconies of Bellinzona

In November 2012 I made a short site visit to the southern Swiss town of Bellinzona. It stands at the entrance to the Ticino valley above Locarno and for centuries served as the southern gateway to the St Gotthard Pass, controlling traffic between northern Italy, especially Lago Maggiore, Milan and Turin, and northern Switzerland including … Continue reading In Ruskin’s Footsteps: the Balconies of Bellinzona →