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Works Thomas Girtin and Joseph Mallord William Turner after (?) John Robert Cozens

The Rhône, Looking North from the Junction with the Salanfe River, near the Pissevache Fall

1794 - 1797

Primary Image: TG0460: Thomas Girtin (1775–1802) and Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851), after (?) John Robert Cozens (1752–97), The Rhône, Looking North from the Junction with the Salanfe River, near the Pissevache Fall, 1794–97, graphite and watercolour on wove paper (watermark: 1794 / J WHATMAN), 30.5 × 48.7 cm, 12 × 19 ⅛ in. Tate, Turner Bequest CCCLXXV, 16 (D36537).

Photo courtesy of Tate (All Rights Reserved)

Description
Creator(s)
Thomas Girtin (1775-1802) and Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851) after (?) John Robert Cozens (1752-1797)
Title
  • The Rhône, Looking North from the Junction with the Salanfe River, near the Pissevache Fall
Date
1794 - 1797
Medium and Support
Graphite and watercolour on wove paper (watermark: 1794 / J WHATMAN)
Dimensions
30.5 × 48.7 cm, 12 × 19 ⅛ in
Inscription

‘near the Cascade call’d Pise Vache / near Martigny’ on the back, by Thomas Girtin

Object Type
Collaborations; Monro School Copy
Subject Terms
River Scenery; Swiss View

Collection
Catalogue Number
TG0460
Description Source(s)
Viewed in December 2017

Provenance

Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833); his posthumous sale, Christie's, 26–28 June and 1–2 July 1833 (day and lot number not known); bought by Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851); accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest, 1856

Bibliography

Finberg, 1909, vol.2, p.1235 as '"Near the Cascade call’d Pise Vache, near Martigny"' by Thomas Girtin; Turner Online as 'View on the Rhine, looking North from the Junction with the Salense, at the Foot of the Pissevache Fall' by Joseph Mallord William Turner and Thomas Girtin (Accessed 06/09/2022)

About this Work

This view north from the confluence of the Rhône and the Salanfe rivers, near the famous waterfall of Pissevache, displays many of the signs that mark the unique collaboration between Girtin and his contemporary Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) at the home of Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833). Here they were employed across three winters, probably between 1794 and 1797, to make ‘finished drawings’ from the ‘Copies’ of the ‘outlines or unfinished drawings of Cozens’ and other artists, amateur and professional, either from Monro’s collection or lent for the purpose. As the two young artists later recalled, Girtin generally ‘drew in outlines and Turner washed in the effects’. ‘They went at 6 and staid till Ten’, which may account for the generally monochrome appearance of the works, and, as the diarist Joseph Farington (1747–1821) reported, Turner received ‘3s. 6d each night’, though ‘Girtin did not say what He had’ (Farington, Diary, 12 November 1798).1

The title of the work comes from an inscription on the back, which appears to be in Girtin’s handwriting, presumably copied from the drawing on which the work is based. Although it has not been traced, it is very likely to have been a sketch by John Robert Cozens (1752–97), who was in the area of Martigny at the end of August 1776 and whose drawing of nearby Bâtiaz Castle provided the basis for another Monro School subject (TG0458). Cozens’ sketch was probably in the form of a simple, though large-scale, outline drawing, which would have needed careful interpretation to create the ‘finished drawings’ that Monro required for his collection. It can all too easily be forgotten that Monro, like the two young artists in his employment, had not visited the Alps by this date, and he was presumably ignorant of the fact that a view of the nearby Pissevache waterfall might have made for a much more dramatic composition.

Establishing the division of labour within a Monro School drawing is considerably helped, as here, when the colour washes leave much of the pencil work showing clearly. Although the nature of the subject did not require much detail, Girtin’s hand is apparent under Turner’s economical use of a simple palette of greys and blues. The watercolour is part of a substantial group of Swiss subjects attributed to Turner that were sold at Monro’s posthumous sale in 1833 (Exhibitions: Christie’s, 28 June 1833), of which Turner himself acquired fifteen or so examples (now in the Turner Bequest at Tate Britain).

1794 - 1797

La Bâtiaz Castle, near Martigny (Caesar’s Tower)

TG0458

by Greg Smith

Place depicted

Footnotes

  1. 1 The full diary entry, giving crucial details of the artists’ work at Monro’s house, is transcribed in the Documents section of the Archive (1798 – Item 2).

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