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Flüelen, from the Lake of Lucerne

J. M. W. Turner1845

The Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States

In this watercolor, created late in his life, J.M.W. Turner depicted the small Swiss town of Flüelen and its shimmering reflection out of violet-colored mist. The work belongs to a group of highly finished works that the artist created during several summer trips to Switzerland between 1841 and 1845. The swirling vortex of light underscores the grandeur of nature, while the inclusion of figures going about their daily lives within the vastness of the Alps is a reminder of the reality of the scene. At the time he painted this view, Turner was considered the great master of Romantic landscape painting in England.

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  • Title: Flüelen, from the Lake of Lucerne
  • Creator: Joseph Mallord William Turner (British, 1775–1851)
  • Date Created: 1845
  • Physical Dimensions: Sheet: 29.2 x 47.9 cm (11 1/2 x 18 7/8 in.)
  • Provenance: Hugh A. J. Munro of Novar?, Rev. C. Upham Barry, Ryde, Isle of Wight, by descent to his daughter, His daughter, wife of Colonel P. G. Hewitt, Ryde, Isle of Wight, (her sale Christie's, London, March 25, 1884, no. 139), Ralph Brocklebank Sr., Haughton Hall, Tarporley, Ralph Brocklebank Jr., Haughton Hall,. Tarporley, (his sale, Christie's, London, July 7, 1922, no. 34), (Thomas Agnew and Sons, London), Grace Rainey Rogers [1867-1943], New York, NY, (her sale, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, November 18, 1943, no. 41), Walter F. Wedgwood, New York, NY, (Durlacher Brothers, New York, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH), Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Type: Drawing
  • Rights: CC0
  • External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/1954.129
  • Medium: watercolor with gouache and scratch-away
  • Inscriptions: MFA Boston label on verso: "Special Loan Exh. Turner, Constable and Bonington, lent by Wedgewood"
  • Fun Fact: The art critic John Ruskin described the series of watercolors to which this work belongs as "sunset drawings," referring to to the fact that they were made at the end of Turner's career rather than their subject matter.
  • Department: Drawings
  • Culture: England, 19th century
  • Credit Line: Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
  • Collection: DR - British
  • Accession Number: 1954.129
The Cleveland Museum of Art

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