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The Falls of the Rhine at Schaffhausen

Maker

(artist)
1775-1851

Title

Date of Production

(c.) 1841

Medium

graphite, watercolour, bodycolour, pen and ink (red) with scratching out (recto), graphite (verso), on grey-prepared wove paper, now laid down on Japanese tissue

Dimensions

Height: 23.3 cm
Width: 29.6 cm

Accession Number

D.1974.STC.12

Mode of Acquisition

Jeanne Courtauld, gift, in memory of Sir Stephen Courtauld, 1974

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

conceptual drawings

Label Text

Judging by the quantity of sketches that Turner made of the famous waterfalls at Schauffhausen, on the Swiss-German border, the spectacular sight was clearly one of the highlights of his many continental tours. The contemporary diarist Joseph Farington’s observation that the artist ‘has no settled process but drives the colours about’, is nowhere more true than in his depiction of the thundering waters and glistening spray. Scratching out and rubbing over bright patches of colour, Turner ably mimics the chaotic effects of nature.

Provenance

possibly one of nine Schaffhausen views purchased from the artist by his friend, Charles Stokes (1784-1853), May 1851; by descent to his niece, Hannah Cooper, 1853; friend of the artist, Reverend William Kingsley (1815-1916); by descent to Mrs Kingsley; her sale, Christie's (London), 14 July 1916, lot 28; purchased there by Thomas Agnew & Sons (London); purchased there by Sir Stephen Courtauld (1883-1967), 14 July 1917; by descent to Jeanne Courtauld, 1972; presented by Jeanne Courtauld in memory of Stephen Courtauld, 1974

Exhibition History

The Courtauld Collection. A Vision for Impressionism, Louis Vuitton Foundation, Paris, 20/02/2019-17/06/2019

Late Turner: Painting Set Free, Tate Britain, London, 10/09/2014-25/01/2015

Life, Legend, Landscape - Victorian Drawings and Watercolours, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 17/02/2011-15/05/2011 ...More

Paths to Fame - Turner's Watercolour Landscapes, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 30/10/2008-25/01/2009

Paths to Fame - Turner's Watercolour Landscapes, Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere, England, 16/07/2008-12/10/2008

A Passion for Drawings, Collectors at the Courtauld, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 28/02/2002-09/06/2002

J.M.W. Turner, 'That Greatest of Landscape Painters' -
Watercolours from London Museums, Tulsa, USA, 08/02/1998-12/04/1998

J.M.W. Turner. Koln und der Rhein. Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, Skizzenbucher, Stiche, Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne, 11/10/1980-30/11/1980

Turner, Prout, Steer - Three Bequests to the Courtauld Institute
Galleries, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 1980

English Landscape Drawing and Watercolours, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 01/05/1977-01/06/1977

Watercolours by J.M.W. Turner from the Sir Stephen Courtauld
Collection, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 1974

An Exhibition of Old Masters and by deceased Masters of the
British School, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1892 ...Less

Literature

Serres, Karen (ed.), The Courtauld Collection: A Vision for Impressionism, Paul Holberton Publishing 2019
ill. on p. 341

David Blayney Brown, Amy Concannon and Sam Smiles, ed., Late Turner: Painting Set Free, London: Tate Publishing, 2014
cat. 42
ill. on p. 98

Life, Legend, Landscape - Victorian Drawings and Watercolours, The Courtauld Gallery, 2011
cat. no. 18
ill. on p. 86 ...More

Paths to Fame: Turner Watercolours from The Courtauld Gallery, Wordsworth Trust; Courtauld Gallery, 2008-2009
no. 18
ill. on p. 101

J.M.W. Turner, "that greatest of landscape painters": watercolors from London museums, Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1998
no. 36
ill. on p. 145

J.M.W. Turner, 'That Greatest of Landscape Painters' - Watercolours from London Museums, Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1998
cat. no. 36

Mantegna to Cezanne: Master Drawings from the Courtauld, British Museum, London, 1983
no. 121, p. 102
ill. on p. 116

Turner Prout Steer Three Bequests to the Courtauld Institute of Art, Courtauld Institute Galleries, London, 1980
no. 10 (Turner)

Wilton, Andrew, The life and work of J.M.W. Turner, London, 1979
no. 1462
ill.

English Landscape Drawing and Watercolours, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 1977
cat. no. 30

Russell, John and Andrew Wilton, Turner in Switzerland, Zurich, De Clivo Press, 1976
Fig. p. pp. 74-75

Kitson, Michael, Watercolours by J.M.W. Turner: Turner watercolours from the collection of Stephen Courtauld, London, Courtauld Institute of Art, 1974
no. 9

Armstrong, Sir Walter, Turner, London, Thomas Agnew & Sons, 1902
p. 276 ...Less

Inscriptions

Inscription: the verso 'sketch' of sailing boats looks to me like an inscription, but the Japanese tissue obscures it too much to see clearly.

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