Joseph Mallord William Turner R.A.

Agnew's, Manchester;
purchased by the father of the present owner in July or August 1968 in East Anglia

An early mount has protected the sheet around the edge, and there is slight darkening of the paper round these edges. The torn edges of the sheet are exactly as they were when Turner drew on this sheet (it is what tells us that it is one of four sheets from the middle of the original Imperial sheet). The work has not been laid down. The colours are very well preserved. The touches of bodycolour are not abraded. Overall this watercolour is in very good condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This recently discovered vibrant and colourful watercolour dates from 1839.  It is a view of Givet in France on the Meuse, just south of the border with Belgium.  It shows in the foreground some figures including a soldier, three or four boats moored to the bank of the river and beyond the bridge, up river towards the town, the Charlemont fortress, the Tour Victoire and the church of St. Hilaire.  The bridge had been built on the command of Napoleon following a delay caused by an accident to the ferry boat which had held up him and his troops crossing from Little Givet to Great Givet.  Beyond the bridge and the fortress Turner has introduced a dramatic storm.

Preparatory sketches are in the Turner Bequest, in the Givet, Mézières, Verdun, Metz, Luxemburg and Trèves Sketchbook (TB CCLXXXVIII 4a, 5a, 6, 7a).  In the 5a sketch (Fig. 1) he has concentrated on the profile of the fortress, Tour Victoire and Church of St Hilaire.  In 4a and 7a he sketched the view with the bridge behind him (4a drawn from boats) and on the page 6 sketch he drew from near the present viewpoint and also includes the boats moored to the bank.

A view, again looking south, but drawn from a few hundred yards further down stream, illustrates how the narrow ravine shown in the present work, ended and the valley and river abruptly became much wider. That view entitled Givet from the North, and this view were not recorded in Andrew Wilton's, The Life and Work of J.M.W. Turner, 1979, and is in a private collection.  Cecilia Powell in her catalogue entry for that watercolour when exhibited at the Tate, Turner Rivers of Europe: The Rhine, Meuse and Mosel, 1991, no. 102, identified the subject and has also recorded this view.  With reference to St. Hilaire at Givet, very clear in this watercolour, she referred to the tower as it was described by Victor Hugo, in Le Rhin (1842), 'The good architect has taken the square cap of a priest or lawyer; on this square cap he has built  an upside-down salad-bowl; on the back of this salad-bowl, used as a platform, he has placed a sugar—basin; on the sugar-basin a bottle; on the bottle a sun fitted into its neck by its lowest ray; and, finally, on the sun a cock spitted on to its highest vertical ray.  Assuming he took a day to produce each of these six ideas, he must have rested on the seventh day.'

The sheet of blue paper used in this formerly unknown work has been examined by Peter Bower.  He has established that it was made from two blue and one white rag with the addition of some hemp.  The torn rather than cut edges show that this was one of four sheets in the middle of an imperial sheet. 

We are grateful to Dr. Cecilia Powell and Peter Bower for their assistance.