19. Lurleiberg: the Bend of the River, 1817.
35. Rolandswerth Nunnery and Drachenfels, 1817 ([Plate IX]).
37. Mayence, 1817.
These are four out of the fifty-one Rhine drawings which Turner made for Mr. Walter Fawkes in the summer and autumn of 1817. Thornbury dates these drawings 1819, which is a mistake, and says that they were done “at the prodigious rate of three a day.” But no man, not even Turner, marvellously rapid worker as he was, could have produced these fifty-one drawings at such a rate. What really happened was this: the sketches for these drawings were actually made in twelve days, between August 18 and 30, 1817; the fifty-one water-colours were then painted from these pencil sketches between the end of August and November 13 (the day Turner handed the complete series “in a slovenly roll” to Mr. Fawkes at Farnley Hall). We do not know exactly where the work was done, but it was probably partly at inns, for Turner could work anywhere and under any conditions, and partly when staying with Lord Darlington at Raby Castle, or with Lord Strathmore at Hylton Castle or Gibside. The documentary evidence which has enabled me to correct Thornbury’s statements is given in detail in my account of “Turner’s Water-Colours at Farnley Hall” (The Studio office).
The drawings of this series are not hurried sketches from nature, they are carefully pondered and perfectly elaborated works of art. The painting of the dark cloud crossing the sun in the Mayence and Kastel is a striking instance of Turner’s technical mastery. It must have been floated on while the paper was wet and allowed—or rather made—to run into just the right shapes. Its evanescent effect, its melting, imperceptible gradations, could have been got in no other way.
The broad calm river, the spacious design, and the beautifully drawn rocks in the Rolandswerth Nunnery and Drachenfels ([Plate IX]) make it a delightful drawing. This view must have been taken from near Oberwinter, looking north, in the direction of Bonn.
Nearly all the drawings in this series were painted over a grey preparation, put on over the white paper before the work was begun. By wiping out or scraping away this preparation the white paper was laid bare and Turner was thus enabled to get his high lights and his general effect of light and dark very rapidly. But the presence of the grey preparation forces the drawings into a low key and makes grey the predominant note in the colour scheme. The colour harmonies are, therefore, generally silver rather than golden. The drawing of Mayence is, however, an exception to the rule, as it is painted direct upon the white paper without any grey preparation. It therefore stands out from its companions as being more limpid in workmanship and more luminous in effect than they are.
129. Florence from Fiesole, circa 1817.
134. Turin, from the Church of the Superga, do.
137. Lake of Nemi, do.