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On Lake Lucerne looking towards Fluelen (formerly 'Seelisberg by Moonlight')

Maker

(artist)
1775-1851

Title

Date of Production

(c.) 1841

Medium

graphite and watercolour with scratching out on wove paper

Dimensions

Height: 22.3 cm
Width: 28.3 cm

Accession Number

D.2007.DS.47

Mode of Acquisition

Dorothy Scharf, bequest, 2007 (March)

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Label Text

Airy representations of sky and water are a prominent feature of Turner’s Lucerne subjects. In this nocturnal scene, a translucent grey haze envelopes the patch of blue sky, from which a full moon casts light on the clear turquoise waters. The iceberg-like cliff, looming in the mist, has recently been identified as a rocky promontory between Brunnen and Fluelen in the Bay of Uri, near the small lakeside chapel (represented here by two miniscule dots) dedicated to William Tell, the champion of Swiss liberty.

Provenance

acquaintance of the artist, Henry Vaughan (1809-1899); Louis Huth (1821-1905); his estate sale, Christie's (London), 20 May 1905, lot 23; purchased there by Thomas Agnew & Sons (London); purchased there by William George Rawlinson (1840-1928), 1906; purchased from him by Thomas Agnew & Sons (London), 1917; purchased there by Reginald A. Tatton (1857-1926), 1917; by descent to Thomas Arthur Tatton (1893-after 1932); his sale, Christie's (London), 14 December 1928, lot 31; purchased there by Thomas Agnew & Sons (London); purchased there by Landon K. Thorne, New York (1906-1964); by descent to Mrs A.B. Thorne; purchased from her by Thomas Agnew & Sons (London), 1972; purchased by a private collector, 1972; purchased from them by Thomas Agnew & Sons (London), 1976; purchased from them by Miss Dorothy Scharf, London (1942-2004), 1976; Scharf Bequest 2007

Exhibition History

Wild at Heart. Swiss Romanticism from Fuseli to Bocklin, Kunsthaus Zurich, 13/11/2020-14/02/2021

A Dialogue with Nature: Romantic Landscapes from Britain and Germany, The Morgan Library, New York, 30/05/2014-07/09/2014

A Dialogue with Nature: Romantic Landscapes from Britain and Germany, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 30/01/2014-27/04/2014 ...More

Wolken Welt des Flüchtigen, Leopold Museum, Vienna, 22/03/2013-01/07/2013

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

104th Annual Exhibition of Watercolours and Drawings, Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, 17/01/1977-18/02/1977

100th Annual Exhibition of Watercolours and Drawings, Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, 15/01/1973-16/02/1973 ...Less

Literature

Wolken: Welt des Flüchtigen, Leopold Museum, Vienna, 2013
p. 355
ill. on pp. 106-07

Paths to Fame: Turner Watercolours from The Courtauld Gallery, Wordsworth Trust; Courtauld Gallery, 2008-2009
no. 19
ill. on p. 103

Wilton, Andrew, The life and work of J.M.W. Turner, London, 1979
no. 1479
ill. ...More

104th Annual Exhibition of Watercolours and Drawings, Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, January - February 1977
no. 49

100th Annual Exhibition of Watercolours and Drawings, Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, January - February 1973
no. 83
ill.

Rawlinson, W.G. and Alexander Joseph Finberg, The Watercolours of J.M.W. Turner, London, 1909
p. 21
pl. XXVIII ...Less

Inscriptions

Inscription: 1317

Inscription: 1140 [?]

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