Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00000321Flüelen, from the Lake of Lucerne
by Joseph Mallord William Turner
Also known as: Flüelen - Lake of Lucerne; Fluelen, from the Lake; Fluelen, Lake of Lucerne; Lake of Lucerne: Fluelen from the Bay of Uri
About the Artwork
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.
Inscriptions
MFA Boston label on verso: "Special Loan Exh. Turner, Constable and Bonington, lent by Wedgewood"
Provenance
?-before 1850: Hugh A. J. Munro of Novar? by c. 1850-?: Rev. C. Upham Barry, Ryde, Isle of Wight, by descent to his daughter ?-1884: His daughter, wife of Colonel P. G. Hewitt, Ryde, Isle of Wight 1884: (her sale Christie's, London, March 25, 1884, no. 139) after 1884-?: Ralph Brocklebank Sr., Haughton Hall, Tarporley ?-1922: Ralph Brocklebank Jr., Haughton Hall,. Tarporley 1922: (his sale, Christie's, London, July 7, 1922, no. 34) after 1922-?: (Thomas Agnew and Sons, London) ?-1943: Grace Rainey Rogers [1867-1943], New York, NY 1943: (her sale, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, November 18, 1943, no. 41) after 1943-?: Walter F. Wedgwood, New York, NY ?-1954: (Durlacher Brothers, New York, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH) 1954-: Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Turner in America: Oils, Water Colors, Drawings, and Some Engraved Works of Joseph Mallord William Turner. Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, Indianapolis, IN (organizer) (November 12, 1955-December 25, 1995); Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, OH (January 1-31, 1956). Joseph Mallord William Turner: Watercolors and Drawings. Otto Gerson Gallery, New York, NY (organizer) (November 9-December 10, 1960). Landscape. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 9-April 22, 1962). Water Color. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 6-August 27, 1962). Ruskin and His Circle. Arts Council of Great Britain (organizer) (January 17-February 15, 1964). Romantic Art in Britain: Paintings and Drawings 1760-1860. The Detroit Institute of Arts (organizer) (January 9-February 11, 1968); Philadelphia Museum of Art (March 14-April 21, 1968). Turner Watercolors from The British Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 27-November 27, 1977). Visions of Landscape: East and West. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 17-March 21, 1982). The Birth and Flowering of British Romantic Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 1-July 22, 1990). Victorian Landscape Watercolors. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 18, 1992-January 3, 1993). Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002). British Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art . The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 10-May 26, 2013). Julie Mehretu: Portals. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 16-November 13, 2022).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 7, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Joseph Mallord William Turner (British, 1775–1851)
- Date
- 1845
- Medium
- watercolor with gouache and scratch-away
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 29.2 x 47.9 cm (11 1/2 x 18 7/8 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
- Accession no.
- 1954.129
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Open-access museum record · AT-00000321
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