Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1977.14.79
Classification:
Paintings
Collection:
Paintings and Sculpture
Subject Terms:
landscape | pier | reflection | fog | texture | unfinished | lake | hills | mountains
Associated Places:
Fyne, Loch | Argyll and Bute | Scotland | United Kingdom
Currently On View:
On view
Exhibition History:
J.M.W. Turner: Romance & Reality (Yale Center for British Art, 2025-03-29 - 2025-07-27)In a New Light: Paintings from the Yale Center for British Art (Yale University Art Gallery, 2023-03-24 - 2023-12-03)Impression,soleil levant (National Gallery of Australia, 2019-06-06 - 2019-08-18)The Critique of Reason : Romantic Art, 1760–1860 (Yale University Art Gallery, 2015-03-06 - 2015-07-26)Turner, Monet, Twombly (Moderna Museet, 2011-10-08 - 2012-01-15)Turner, Monet, Twombly (Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, 2012-02-11 - 2012-05-28)This Other Eden : British Paintings from the Paul Mellon Collection at Yale (Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1998-05-01 - 1998-07-05)This Other Eden : British Paintings from the Paul Mellon Collection at Yale (Queensland Art Gallery, 1998-07-15 - 1998-09-06)This Other Eden : British Paintings from the Paul Mellon Collection at Yale (Art Gallery of South Australia, 1998-09-16 - 1998-11-15)Turner 1996 (National Gallery of Australia, 1996-03-17 - 1996-06-10)Turner 1996 (National Gallery of Victoria, 1996-06-23 - 1996-09-09)British Landscape Exhibition (Japan) (Isetan Museum of Art, 1992-09-17 - 1992-10-20)British Landscape Exhibition (Japan) (Daimaru Museum of Art, 1993-03-10 - 1993-03-29)British Landscape Exhibition (Japan) (Ohita Prefectural Art Hall, 1992-10-24 - 1992-11-15)British Landscape Exhibition (Japan) (Koriyama City Museum of Art, 1992-11-21 - 1993-01-17)British Landscape Exhibition (Japan) (Hiroshima Museum of Art, 1993-01-23 - 1993-03-07)British Landscape Exhibition (Japan) (Mie Prefectural Art Museum, 1993-04-10 - 1993-05-09)English Romanticism (Center Gallery, Bucknell University, 1990-02-24 - 1990-04-08)Fairest Isle - The Appreciation of British Scenery 1750-1850 (Yale Center for British Art, 1989-04-12 - 1989-06-25)William Wordsworth and the Age of English Romanticism (Indiana University Art Museum, 1988-01-27 - 1988-03-06)William Wordsworth and the Age of English Romanticism (Chicago Historical Society, 1988-04-06 - 1988-06-05)William Wordsworth and the Age of English Romanticism (New York Public Library, 1987-10-31 - 1988-01-02)British Painting and the European Continent (Haus der Kunst Munich, 1979-11-20 - 1980-01-27)Romance and Reality (Wildenstein) (Wildenstein & Company, Inc., 1978-09-22 - 1978-12-07)J. M. W. Turner - A Selection of Paintings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon (National Gallery of Art, 1968-10-31 - 1969-04-21)Painting in England 1700-1850 - From The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon (Yale University Art Gallery, 1965-04-15 - 1965-06-20)
Publications:
A Great Collection of British Pictures in Virginia, The Times (London), , May 1, 1963, p. 5, Times Digital ArchiveSir Walter Armstrong, Turner, Thos. Agnew and Sons Ltd., London, 1902, p. 225, Folio A N 11 (YCBA)John Baskett, Painting in England: 1700-1850: the collection of English paintings formed by Mr and Mrs Paul Mellon : on exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, until August 18th, , Connoisseur, Vol. 153, London, June 1963, p. 101, N1 C75 + (YCBA)Martin Butlin, The paintings of J.M.W. Turner, The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, New Haven, 1984, pp. 288, 298-299, 304 (vol. 1), no. 519, pl. 52, NJ18 T85 B885 1984 OVERSIZE (YCBA)Malcolm Cormack, Concise Catalogue of Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1985, pp. 228-229, N590.2 .A83 (YCBA)Megan Cullen, Fairest isle : the appreciation of British scenery, 1750-1850 : [exhibition] label copy. Yale Center for British Art, April 12-June 25, 1989., , Yale Center for British Art, [New Haven, 1989, p. 67, no. 151, ND1354.4 F351 1989 (YCBA)Exhibition of works by the old masters and by deceased masters of the British School including a collection illustrating the Sculptor-Goldsmith's Art chiefly of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries, Winter Exhibition 26th Year, Royal Academy of Arts, 1895, p. 10, no. 25, Fiche B131 (YCBA)Gillian Forrester, Turner's 'Drawing Book', the Liber studiorum, Tate Publishing, London, 1996, p. 94, no. 35, NJ18 T85 F651 1996 (YCBA)John Gage, Zwei Jahrhunderte englische Malerei : britische Kunst und Europa 1680 bis 1880 : [Ausstellung] Haus der Kunst Mèunchen, 21. November 1979 bis 27. Januar 1980: [Katalog], , Ausstellungsleitung Haus der Kunst München, Munich, 1979, pp. 368-370, no. 223, fig. 223, ND466 Z85 (YCBA)Marco Goldin, Turner e gli impressionisti : la grande storia del paesaggio moderno in Europa, , Linea d'ombra srl, Conegliano [Italy], 2006, p. 197, ND192.I4 T87 2006 + (YCBA)J.M.W. Turner : a selection of paintings from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, , National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1968, pp. 14, 29, no. 14, fig. 14, NJ18 T85 U5 (YCBA)Lucinda Lax, J. M. W. Turner : romance & reality, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 2025, p. 13, V 2981 (YCBA)Jeremy Lewison, Turner, Monet, Twombly : later paintings, , Moderna Museet, Stockholm, 2011, pp. 67, 117, no. 17, NJ18.T85 L53 2011 Oversize (YCBA)Michael Lloyd, Turner, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 1996, pp. 200, 232, no. 32, NJ18 T85 L57 1996 + (YCBA)Julia Marciari-Alexander, This other Eden : Paintings from the Yale Center for British Art, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1998, pp. 12, 152, no. 62, fig. 12, ND1314.3 Y36 1998 (YCBA)John McDonald, A Feast of Mellon, Sydney Morning Herald, May 9, 1998, p. 14, ProQuest News & Newspapers : Global NewsstreamPainting in England 1700-1850 : collection of Mr. & Mrs. Paul Mellon : Exhibition at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, , , Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA, 1963, p. 92 (v.1), no. 137, pl. 193, ND466 V57 v.1-2 (YCBA)Painting in England 1700-1850 from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, The Royal Academy of Arts Winter Exhibition 1964-65., , Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK, 1964, p. 46 (v.1), no. 169, N5220.M45 R69 1964 (YCBA)Paul Mellon's Legacy : a passion for British art [large print labels], , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2007, v. 3, N5220 M552 P381 2007 OVERSIZE (YCBA)Duncan Robinson, Fairest isle : the appreciation of British scenery, 1750-1850, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1989, p. 19, no. 151, ND1354.4 F35 (YCBA)Eric Shanes, The life and masterworks of J.M.W. Turner, Parkstone Press, New York, 2008, p. 237, NJ18 T85 S441 2008 + OVERSIZE (YCBA)Eric Shanes, True Subject of a Major Late Painting by J.M.W. Turner Identified, Burlington Magazine, vol. 126, May 1984, pp. 284-288, N1 B87 + (YCBA)Eric Shanes, Turner : the great watercolours, , Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2000, pp. 24, 25, fig. 10, NJ18 T85 S446 2000 (YCBA)Sam Smiles, The late works of J. M. W. Turner : the artist and his critics, The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, London, 2020, p. 205, fig. 125, NJ18.t85 S655 2020 Oversize (YCBA)Joyce H. Townsend, How Turner Painted: Materials & Techniques, Thames & Hudson, London, 2019, p. 6 (detail), p. 31, NJ18.T85 T642 2019 (LC) (YCBA)Ian Warrell, Turner, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 2025, pp. 7, 28-29, 99, 110-111, 121, pl. 72, NJ18 .T85 W37 2025 (YCBA)Andrew Wilton, The life and work of J.M.W. Turner, Academy Editions, London, 1979, p. 294, no. P579, NJ18 T85 +W577 OVERSIZE (YCBA)Jonathan Wordsworth, British romantic art, Center Gallery, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA, 1990, p. 33, NX543 B74 1990 OVERSIZE (YCBA)Jonathan Wordsworth, William Wordsworth and the age of English romanticism, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick Grasmere, UK, 1987, pp. 125, 234, no. 293, fig. 114, PR5885 W67 1987 (YCBA)Yale University Art Gallery, Painting in England, 1700-1850, from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon : [exhibition at] Yale University Art Gallery, April 15-June 20, 1965, , vol. 1, W. Clowes and sons, New Haven, 1965, p. 53 (v.1), no. 197, ND466 Y35 (YCBA)
Gallery Label:
Though long thought to represent a view in northern Italy, this painting has recently been related to a print from the Liber Studiorum, showing Loch Fyne in the Scottish Highlands. The confusion reflects the work’s extraordinary economy of means, typical of Turner’s audacious and innovative late style. All extraneous detail has been subordinated to the overall effect. Layers of shimmering glazes are developed just far enough to create individual forms that are recognizable but radically abbreviated or approximated. Sky, water, and land meld together as transient, luminous presences. Such seemingly incomplete forms blur the lines between the finished and unfinished, the abstract and the representational, challenging traditional conceptions of the very nature of landscape art. Gallery label for J. M. W. Turner: Romance and Reality (Yale Center for British Art, March - 29, 2025 - July 27, 2025)
Provenance:
Created by Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851), the artist [1][a]; …; acquired by Sir Donald Currie (1825–1909), London, England by 1894 [2][b][c][d]; by inheritance to his wife, Margaret Currie (née Miller) (ca. 1830–1920), London, England; by descent to her daughter, Elisabeth Martin Molteno (née Currie) (1856–1933), London, England; by descent to her daughter, Elizabeth Margaret Murray (née Molteno) (1894–1967), London, England [3]; purchased by Thomas Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London, England [e]; purchased by Paul Mellon (1907–1999), 1960 [f]; by whom given to the Yale Center for British Art, 1977. Notes: --- [1] In Sir Walter Armstrong’s Turner, the work is identified by its former title "Monte Rosa" and listed in the collection of Sir Donald Currie. Armstrong states that the work was taken unfinished in the artist’s studio upon his death. Finally, Armstrong quotes with the title the following description: "Looking across Lago Maggiore, Monte Rosa on left seen through a mist at sunrise. Vague effect of morning light stealing over mountain to left. Still blue lake below. Composition resembles the view looking west between Stresa and Baveno." Eric Shanes also believes that the painting was unsold in the artist’s lifetime. However, he further convincingly argues that the work had until 1984 been misidentified in this title which he corrects in his article for Burlington Magazine. He demonstrates that the picture’s composition draws from an 1811 print, "Inverary Pier. Loch Fyne. Morning," Plate 35 in the Liber Studiorum. Turner is known to have reworked earlier compositions in his later pictures. When the work was included in the 1894 winter exhibition at the Royal Academy, it was listed as no. 25 lent by Sir Donald Currie (1825–1909), with the title "Monte Rosa: Mist on Lake at Sunrise" and the following description: "View looking across the lake, with the mountain on the l. seen through a mist at sunrise." Shanes argues that the misattributed title began with this catalogue entry, repeated in Armstrong’s text and thereafter. [2] Sir Donald Currie (1825–1909) was a Scottish politician and shipping magnate who founded the Castle Line, dominating sea routes between Great Britain and South Africa through the second half of the nineteenth century. As a philanthropist, he was well known as a collector of Turner since the 1860s, often acquiring from dealers or at auction sales. His wife Margaret Currie (née Miller) (ca. 1830–1920) was the daughter of Liverpool merchant and art collector John Miller (1798–1876), who also collected works by Turner and once owned Tummel Bridge, Perthshire, now in the YCBA collection. [3] Elizabeth Margaret Molteno (later Murray) was the daughter of Percy Alport Molteno (1861–1937) and Elisabeth Martin Currie (1856–1933), the second daughter of Sir Donald Currie (1825–1909) and Margaret Currie (née Miller) (ca. 1830–1920). Percy Alport Molteno was the second son of Sir John Charles Molteno (1814–1886), the first Prime Minister of the Cape Colony and a friend of Sir Donald Currie, for whom Percy worked, becoming chairman of the merged Union-Castle Line. Citations: --- [a] Eric Shanes, "True Subject of a Major Late Painting by J.M.W. Turner Identified," Burlington Magazine 126, no. 974 (May 1984): 284–88. https://www.jstor.org/stable/881729. [b] Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1984), 304, no. 518, pl. 520. [c] Sir Walter Armstrong, Turner (London, Manchester, and Liverpool: Thos. Agnew & Sons, 1902), 225. https://archive.org/details/gri_33125009276722/page/n5/mode/2up. [d] Royal Academy of Arts, Exhibition of Works by the Old Masters and by Deceased Masters of the British School, including special collections of the works of Thomas Stothard RA, William Blake & John Pettie RA (London: William Clowes and Sons, Ltd., 1894), 9, no. 25. https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/exhibition-catalogue/1894-old-masters-deceased-masters-of-the-british-school-thomas-stothard-ra. [e] Butlin and Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, 304. [f] Malcolm Cormack, Concise Catalogue of Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1985, pp. 228-229.