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Lot Essay
When with Spink, this watercolour was known as Margate Jetty with steamer approaching. However, the paper is close to that of Bally, Ellen & Steart, associating it with a group of studies done on tinted paper during Turner's tour of the Mosel down from Trier to the Rhine at Coblenz in 1839 (see P. Bower, Turner's Later Papers, exhibition catalogue, London, Tate Gallery, March - June 1999, pp. 89-100; C. Powell, Turner's Rivers of Europe: The Rhine, Meuse and Mosel, exhibition catalogue, London, Tate Gallery and Brussels, Musée d'Ixelles, September 1991 - April 1992, pp. 131-49; and C. Powell, Turner in Germany, exhibition catalogue, London, Tate Gallery, Städtische Kunsthalle, Mannheim, and Hamburger Kunsthalle, May 1995 - March 1996, pp. 64, 125-142).
Of the two key, multi-arched bridges that crossed the Mosel in Turner's time that of Trier seems a less likely possibility for that shown in this drawing than the one at Coblenz (see Powell, op. cit., 1990, p. 130, no. 47, illustrated, and p. 149, the National Gallery of Scotland's gouache, illustrated, and Powell, op. cit., 1995-6, p. 142, no. 62, illustrated; for later views of the bridge at Coblenz see Powell, op. cit., 1990, p. 95, nos. 132 & 134, illustrated in colour).
Coblenz, standing as it does at the confluence of the Mosel and the Rhine, was a natural stopping-off point for Turner on his various journeys in and through Germany. In addition it faces the famous and highly picturesque castle of Ehrenbreitstein, subject of many watercolours and oils by Turner. The artist had already visited Coblenz on his tour of the Rhine in 1817, his Meuse-Mosel tour of 1824, on his way to Venice in 1833, and his tour of Copenhagen, Prague and northern Germany in 1835. Later, from 1840 to 1844, he passed through Coblenz every year (see Powell, op. cit., 1990 and 1995-6, passim).
We are grateful to Cecilia Powell for her help in preparing this catalogue entry.
Of the two key, multi-arched bridges that crossed the Mosel in Turner's time that of Trier seems a less likely possibility for that shown in this drawing than the one at Coblenz (see Powell, op. cit., 1990, p. 130, no. 47, illustrated, and p. 149, the National Gallery of Scotland's gouache, illustrated, and Powell, op. cit., 1995-6, p. 142, no. 62, illustrated; for later views of the bridge at Coblenz see Powell, op. cit., 1990, p. 95, nos. 132 & 134, illustrated in colour).
Coblenz, standing as it does at the confluence of the Mosel and the Rhine, was a natural stopping-off point for Turner on his various journeys in and through Germany. In addition it faces the famous and highly picturesque castle of Ehrenbreitstein, subject of many watercolours and oils by Turner. The artist had already visited Coblenz on his tour of the Rhine in 1817, his Meuse-Mosel tour of 1824, on his way to Venice in 1833, and his tour of Copenhagen, Prague and northern Germany in 1835. Later, from 1840 to 1844, he passed through Coblenz every year (see Powell, op. cit., 1990 and 1995-6, passim).
We are grateful to Cecilia Powell for her help in preparing this catalogue entry.