.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
拍品专文
Turner explored the Rhine for the first time in 1817, breaking his journey, both up and down the river at Coblenz, taking full advantage of its view of Ehrenbreitstein on the opposite bank. The massive fortress had been constructed by the archbishops of Trier to capitalise on its location - commanding the junction of the Mosel with the Rhine. However, in 1817 the structure was essentially a ruin, having been destroyed by Napoleon’s troops in 1801. Turner travelled frequently on the Rhine over the following decades and his sketches and watercolours (as well as the oil painting exhibited in 1835) record the reconstruction and expansion of Ehrenbreitstein by the Prussian regime, then in control of the Rhineland. This impressionistic study of Ehrenbreitstein bathes the military stronghold in golden evening sunlight, rendering it so that the fortress is an integral part of the hillside. It has been dated to 1841 by Dr Cecilia Powell, but is painted on a smaller sheet of paper than the extensive series of watercolour views of the setting that Turner is known to have made that year (see C.Powell, Turners Rivers of Europe: The Rhine, Meuse and Mosel, 1991, pp.184-7). There are, nevertheless, tonal and stylistic features that correspond with the present image.
The larger Ehrenbreitstein watercolours are generally on sheets of Whatman wove paper measuring around 24.5 x 30 cm (95⁄8 x 117 in), although at least one was painted on paper with a Charles Ansell watermark. The historian Peter Bower has proposed that the paper used for this view of Ehrenbreitstein is also likely to have been produced by that maker. So it is possible that Turner folded and divided some of the standard size sheets before setting out from Coblenz to travel up the Mosel. There is indeed a batch of perhaps 16 colour studies that were on the Mosel and at Burg Eltz, all of which measure roughly 15 x 25 cms – i.e., about half of the large sheets (see Wilton 1979, nos. 1315-16, 1330-31,1333-36, 1340-41, 1346, 1454, 1509, and three views of Burg Eltz not listed by Wilton).
Those painted on the first stretch of the river, showing Ehrenbreitstein, or between Coblenz and Gondorf, are painted in pure watercolour, using the white paper to intensify the translucent colours and effects. By contrast, for the remainder, depicting Burg Eltz and Cochem, the paper was prepared with a grey wash, against which the brown-blue-green palette is brought into sharper focus with the addition of fine outlines that give greater definition or contribute to a sense of deeper perspective in the designs. This could suggest they reflect two different journeys, and either 1841 or 1842 have been proposed for the latter group (see C. Powell, Turner in Germany, 1995, pp. 183-4). On the other hand, the two approaches could be attributed to Turner’s tendency to experiment with a variety of materials, as was the case during his stay in Venice in 1840.
The early history for the present work has not been documented. But since almost all the other sheets charting the lower Mosel and the Rhine junction can be linked back to John Ruskin it is likely that it also came from the same cache, and may have been among the ‘Rhine’ views included in the art critic’s sale at Christie’s (15 April 1869; see lots 24-32).
We are grateful to Ian Warrell for his help in preparing this catalogue entry.
The larger Ehrenbreitstein watercolours are generally on sheets of Whatman wove paper measuring around 24.5 x 30 cm (95⁄8 x 117 in), although at least one was painted on paper with a Charles Ansell watermark. The historian Peter Bower has proposed that the paper used for this view of Ehrenbreitstein is also likely to have been produced by that maker. So it is possible that Turner folded and divided some of the standard size sheets before setting out from Coblenz to travel up the Mosel. There is indeed a batch of perhaps 16 colour studies that were on the Mosel and at Burg Eltz, all of which measure roughly 15 x 25 cms – i.e., about half of the large sheets (see Wilton 1979, nos. 1315-16, 1330-31,1333-36, 1340-41, 1346, 1454, 1509, and three views of Burg Eltz not listed by Wilton).
Those painted on the first stretch of the river, showing Ehrenbreitstein, or between Coblenz and Gondorf, are painted in pure watercolour, using the white paper to intensify the translucent colours and effects. By contrast, for the remainder, depicting Burg Eltz and Cochem, the paper was prepared with a grey wash, against which the brown-blue-green palette is brought into sharper focus with the addition of fine outlines that give greater definition or contribute to a sense of deeper perspective in the designs. This could suggest they reflect two different journeys, and either 1841 or 1842 have been proposed for the latter group (see C. Powell, Turner in Germany, 1995, pp. 183-4). On the other hand, the two approaches could be attributed to Turner’s tendency to experiment with a variety of materials, as was the case during his stay in Venice in 1840.
The early history for the present work has not been documented. But since almost all the other sheets charting the lower Mosel and the Rhine junction can be linked back to John Ruskin it is likely that it also came from the same cache, and may have been among the ‘Rhine’ views included in the art critic’s sale at Christie’s (15 April 1869; see lots 24-32).
We are grateful to Ian Warrell for his help in preparing this catalogue entry.