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.

Provenance

Hugh A. J. Munro of Novar? (?-before 1850); Rev. C. Upham Barry, Ryde, Isle of Wight, by descent to his daughter (by c. 1850-?); His daughter, wife of Colonel P. G. Hewitt, Ryde, Isle of Wight (?-1884); (her sale Christie's, London, March 25, 1884, no. 139) (1884); Ralph Brocklebank Sr., Haughton Hall, Tarporley (after 1884-?); Ralph Brocklebank Jr., Haughton Hall,. Tarporley (?-1922); (his sale, Christie's, London, July 7, 1922, no. 34) (1922); (Thomas Agnew and Sons, London) (after 1922-?); Grace Rainey Rogers [1867-1943], New York, NY (?-1943); (her sale, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, November 18, 1943, no. 41) (1943); Walter F. Wedgwood, New York, NY (after 1943-?); (Durlacher Brothers, New York, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH) (?-1954); Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1954-)