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Source Description
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.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
131338
label
Flüelen, from the Lake of Lucerne
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
131338
contentType
drawing
title
Flüelen, from the Lake of Lucerne
description
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.
date
1845
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60781248
creators
1280
genreSpecific
Drawing
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Sheet: 29.2 x 47.9 cm (11 1/2 x 18 7/8 in.)
cul
England, 19th century
accession
1954.129
Source extras
tec
watercolor with gouache and scratch-away
tombstone
Flüelen, from the Lake of Lucerne, 1845. Joseph Mallord William Turner (British, 1775–1851). Watercolor with gouache and scratch-away; sheet: 29.2 x 47.9 cm (11 1/2 x 18 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund, 1954.129
supportMaterials
description
cream(3) wove paper
collection
DR - British
inscriptions
inscription
MFA Boston label on verso: "Special Loan Exh. Turner, Constable and Bonington, lent by Wedgewood"
didYouKnow
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.
citations
citation
Temple, A. G.<em> Catalogue of the Loan Collection of Pictures and Drawings by J.M.W. Turner, and of a Selection of Pictures by Some of His Contemporaries. </em>Exh. Cat. London: East & Blades, 1899.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 19-20, 112, no. 150
citation
Wedmore, Frederick, ed. <em>Turner and Ruskin: An Exposition of the Work of Turner from the Writings of Ruskin</em>. London: G. Allen, 1900.
page_number
Mentinoed: vol. 2, p. xi; Reproduced: opposite p. 294
citation
Armstrong, Sir Walter. <em>Turner</em>. London: T. Agnew, 1902.
page_number
Mentioned: vol. 2, p. 264
citation
Carter, R. Radcliffe. <em>Pictures and Engravings at Haughton Hall Tarporley in the Possession of Ralph Brocklebank</em>. London: George Allen, 1904.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. xi, xv, 87, no. 77; Reproduced: no. 77
citation
Constable, W. G., and Henry Preston Rossiter. <em>An Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings and Prints by J.M.W. Turner, John Constable and R.P. Bonington</em>. Exh. Cat. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1946.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 21, no. 44
citation
<em>An Exhibition of Paintings by J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) to Commemorate the Centennial of His Death.</em> Exh. Cat. Toronto: Art Gallery of Toronto, National Gallery of Canada, 1951.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 11
citation
"Accessions of American and Canadian Museums, October - December 1953." <em>Art Quarterly </em>7 (Summer 1954).
page_number
Mentioned: p. 183
citation
Francis, Henry. "A Water Color by J.M.W. Turner in the Cleveland Museum of Art." <em>Art Quarterly</em> 17 (Winter 1954): 427-9.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 427-9; Reproduced: p. 429
citation
Francis, Henry Sayles. "A Water Color by J. M. W. Turner." <em>Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 41, no. 9 (1954): 201-3.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 201-3
citation
<em>Turner in America: Oils, Water Colors, Drawings, and Some Engraved Works of Joseph Mallord William Turner</em>, <em>English, 1775-1851.</em> Exh. Cat. Indianapolis: Art Association of Indianapolis, 1955.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: no. 47
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook.</em> Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 477
citation
<em>Great Master Drawings of Seven Centuries</em>. Exh. Cat. New York: Wittenborn, 1959.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 91-92, no. 84; Reproduced: pl. LIX
citation
<em>Joseph Mallord William Turner, Watercolors and Drawings. </em>Exh. Cat. New York: Otto Gerson Gallery, 1960.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: no. 43
citation
<em>Ruskin and His Circle.</em> Exh. Cat. London: London Arts Council, 1964.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 31, no. 104
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 183
citation
Hawes, Louis. "Turner in New York." <em>Burlington Magazine </em>108, no. 759 (1966): 311-16.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 312
url
www.jstor.org/stable/874986
citation
Cummings, Frederick J., and Allen Staley.<em> Romantic Art in Britain; Paintings and Drawings, 1760-1860</em>. Exh. Cat. Detroit: Detroit Institute of Arts, 1968.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 15, 26, 196-8, no. 121; Reproduced: no. 121
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 183
citation
Cormack, Malcolm. <em>J.M.W. Turner, R.A., 1775-1851</em>. Exh. Cat. Cambridge: Fitzwilliam, 1975.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 70, under no. 44
citation
Wilton, Andrew. <em>Turner in the British Museum: Drawings and Watercolours</em>. Exh. Cat. London: British Museum, 1975.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 157, under no. 287
citation
Wilton, Andrew. <em>Turner in Switzerland</em>. Zürich: De Clivo, 1976.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 139, no. 93
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 208
citation
Wilton, Andrew. <em>J.M.W. Turner: His Art and Life</em>. New York: Secaucus, 1979.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 244, 478, under no. 1483, 486, no. 1549; Reproduced: fig. 1549
citation
"Visions of Landscape East and West." <em>Asia</em> 4, no. 5 (January/February 1982): 24-9.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 28
citation
Ditner, David C. "Claude and the Ideal Landscape Tradition in Great Britain." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 70, no. 4 (1983): 147-63.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 159-60, 163 n. 48; Reproduced: fig. 9
url
www.jstor.org/stable/25159812
citation
Wilton, Andrew. <em>Turner in His Time</em>. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1987.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 213
citation
Wilcox, Scott, and Christopher Newall.<em> Victorian Landscape Watercolors. </em>Exh. Cat. New Haven: Yale Center for British Art, 1992.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 72-3, no. 8; Reproduced: p. 73
citation
<em>J.M.W. Turner, 1775-1851: Watercolours and Drawings from the Turner Bequest</em>. Exh. Cat. Charleroi: Palais des Beaux-Arts, 1994.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 242, under no. 83
citation
Warrell, Ian. <em>Through Switzerland with Turner</em>. Exh. Cat. London: Tate Gallery, 1995.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 79, under no. 38, p. 150, 154; Reproduced: fig. 50
citation
DeGrazia, Diane, and Carter E. Foster. <em>Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 8, 192-3, 294-5; Reproduced: p. 193
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: P. 162
citation
Arendsee, M., and M. Steinman-Arendsee. "Take the CAN disability aesthetics tour, at the Cleveland Museum of art." <em>CAN Journal</em> (Winter 2019/20): 76-87.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 78
citation
Imhof, Michael, and J. M. W. Turner. William Turner: Leben und Werk. Petersberg : Michael Imhof Verlag, 2023.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 232
creditline
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 06:46:44.125000
sourceId
131338
dept
Drawings
coll
DR - British
med
watercolor with gouache and scratch-away
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
566a45ddf6e934b0