This July, Sotheby’s will
present at auction one of the greatest and most beautiful watercolours by JMW Turner
left in private hands.
Joseph Mallord William Turner, R.A.,.The Lake of Lucerne from Brunnen, Watercolour over traces of pencil, heightened with bodycolour , 308 by 469 mm. Estimate: £1,200,000 – 1,800,000.
Commissioned in 1842 , The Lake of Lucerne from Brunnen is part of a celebrated group of
25 ‘finished’ Swiss landscapes that Turner made during the final decade of his life
- a collection of works widely considered the pinnacle of the artist ’ s achievements
in the medium. Offered with an estimate of £1,200,000 – 1,800,000, the work will
be the highlight of the Old Master & British Works on Paper sale in London on
4 July.
Mark Griffith - Jones, Specialist, British Watercolours, Drawings and Portrait
Miniatures at Sotheby’s said,
‘ It is such a privilege to get to know this superb work – whose beauty and history are so captivating. Major watercolours from Turner’s late Swiss period are justifiably held in the highest regard and this is the most important work to appear on the market in more than a decade.’
Depicting one of
the most dramatic landscapes in the Swiss Alps, The Lake of Lucerne from Brunnen
captures the view over the picturesque village of Brunnen on the eastern shores
of Lake Lucerne with the magnificent vista of the Bay of Uri un folding before the
viewer’s eyes. Inspired by Turner’s travels to the region between 1841 and 1844,
the work was commissioned by Turner’s great patron Elhanan Bicknell to hang as a
companion piece to the iconic Blue Rigi – one of three views of the Rigi mountains
painted by the artist which now hangs in London’s Tate Britain having been sold
for a record - breaking £5,832,000 in 2006.
Works from Turner’s ‘late’ Swiss series
ha ve come to be seen as the ‘climax of a lifetime devoted to the expression of
light and colour’ with o nly five of the 25 works n ow remain ing outside of museum
collections. Lake Lucerne from Brunnen has remained in the same distinguished private
collection since 1968 and was l ast seen in public at the seminal Turner - The Great
Watercolours exhibition at London’s Royal Academy in 2001 .
The painting In this
work, Turner has perfectly captured the complex effects of the early morning light
and haze . The huge sky is filled with a golden light which floods the mountain
uplands with warmth, while the deep blue waters of the lake rise up in weightless
mists, giving the impression that the plunging cliffs and lake melt seamlessly to
gether.
As Turner maps out the natural landscape, he carefully connects his scene
with its history. On the left bank, far off in the distance, he indicates the position
of the 14 th century Tell Chapel, where the legendary
William Tell reputedly leapt to freedom, escaping his tyrannical Austrian overlords.
On the right, high above the lake, Turner gives great prominence to the meadow of
Rütli, a site that witnessed the birth of Swiss democracy in 1291.
Turner in Switzerland
In the August of 1841, Turner embarked on his first dedicated tour to Switzerland
in almost 40 years. Throughout this tour, as was his life - long habit, Turner set
about recording the landscapes, the architecture and the local people that caught
his attention. His travels w ere recorded in the form of hastily conceived drawings,
bold small - scale watercolours and exquisite sketches in full watercolour heightened
with pen and ink - all of which now reside in the Tate Britain.
Upon his return
to London, Turner submitted up to tw nty Swiss ‘sample studies’ and four completed
landscapes to his agent, Thomas Griffith. Griffith showed apprehension, remarking
that the completed works were ‘a little different’ from Turner’s ‘usual style ’
- such was their avant - garde nature. In the spring of 1842, Griffith invited four
of Turner’s most important collectors to his London showroom in Waterloo Place just
off Pall Mall; amongst them were the brilliant young art critic, John Ruskin, and
the whaling magnate , Elhanan Bicknell. Four completed works and six subjects
to be chosen from sample studies were presented to the group. Ruskin considered
this set of ten landscapes to be the defining statements in Turner’s career as a
watercolourist.
Bicknell initially purchased the completed Blue Rigi, one of three
watercolours depicting the Rigi mountain in the Swiss Alps, commissioning the current
work to hang as a companion. Trophy watercolour Two year after Bicknell’s death,
the work was offered at a sensational auction of the late magnate’s collection.
The Turners in the collection were rightly considered to be the jewels in the crown
and whereas the Blue Rigi achieved £310.16 on the first day, Lake Lucerne from
Brunnen trumped this, selling for £714 to one John Smith of Edinburgh. The work
has since belonged to a number of distinguished collectors, including some the most
important collectors of Turner’s work, finally being acquired by the father of the
current owner in 1968
