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Creator:
Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1775–1851
Title:

Tours: Sunset: Looking Backwards

Date:
between 1826 and 1830
Medium:
Watercolor, gouache, graphite and pen and brown ink on medium, slightly textured, blue wove paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 4 7/8 x 7 3/8 inches (12.4 x 18.7 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:

Inscribed on back in graphite lower right: "Tours"

Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1981.25.2705
Classification:
Drawings & Watercolors
Collection:
Prints and Drawings
Subject Terms:
boats | bridge (built work) | cityscape | horses (animals) | marine art | stairs | sunset
Associated Places:
Europe | France | Tours
Access:
Accessible by appointment in the Study Room [Request]
Note: The Study Room is open by appointment. Please visit the Study Room page on our website for more details.
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:5509
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From the late 1820s Turner was involved in a project to illustrate the Great Rivers of Europe. By 1834 the publisher had gone bust, but Turner was reluctant to waste the drawings he had already created, including this view of Tours made on a tour of France in 1826. He therefore sold them to another publisher who reproduced them as The Rivers of France in 1837. In this case the blue tint to the paper stands in for the river and the sky, allowing Turner to add highlights and shade only, a time-saving method he had begun to use from around 1815. Although Turner has depicted the river and the cathedral beyond, Tours displays a characteristically Turnerian fascination with human life rather than the obviously beautiful view, giving prominence to the people whose livelihood depends on the river.

Gallery label for Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2008-06-09 - 2008-08-17)

Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2008-06-09 - 2008-08-17) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (The State Hermitage Museum, 2007-10-23 - 2008-01-13) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 2007-07-11 - 2007-09-30) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

Turner on the Loire (Tate Britain, 1997-09-30 - 1998-02-15) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Translations - Turner and Printmaking (Yale Center for British Art, 1993-09-29 - 1993-12-05) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

English Landscape (Paul Mellon Collection) 1630-1850 (Yale Center for British Art, 1977-04-19 - 1977-07-17) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Eric M. Lee, Translations : Turner and printmaking, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1993, pp. 40-41, no. 167, NJ18 .T85 L44 1993 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Amy Meyers, Modesty and Munificence, Apollo, v. 165, no. 542, April 2007, p. 31, fig. 6, N1 A54 + (YCBA) [YCBA]

Graham Reynolds, Turner : with a new introduction by David Blayney Brown, Thames & Hudson, London, fig. 101, NJ18.T85 R49 2020 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Ian Warrell, Turner on the Loire, Tate Publishing, London, 1997, p. 117, cat. 117, fig. 112, NJ18 .T85 W376 1997 +Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]

Christopher White, English landscape, 1630-1850, drawings, prints & books from the Paul Mellon Collection , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1977, pp. 82-83, no. 149, pl. CXXXII, NC228 W45 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Yale Center for British Art, Great British watercolors : from the Paul Mellon Collection, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2007, pp. 112-113, no. 48, ND1928 .Y35 2007 (LC)+ Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]


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