Oil paint on canvas
Switzerland
Tate Collection
Works with images
Works on loan
Joseph Mallord William Turner
Turner Bequest
Oil paintings
Collection
Turner owned by Tate
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/joseph-mallord-william-turner-558" aria-label="More by Joseph Mallord William Turner" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Joseph Mallord William Turner</a>
Mountain Scene with Castle Probably Martigny
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
adults
Alps
architecture
bank
cities, towns, villages (non-UK)
cloud
countries and continents
figure
lake
landscape
Martigny, La Bâtiaz
military
mountain
natural features (non-UK)
people
places
ruins
Switzerland
tree
water: inland
weather
<p>Through Paris and the Alps, Turner was accompanied by Newbey Lowson, a country gentleman of similar age, and an amateur draughtsman who was himself keen to sketch the picturesque scenery abroad. Lowson, who acted as Turner’s ‘paymaster’ for the tour, largely determined his itinerary. From Grenoble, they travelled to Geneva, Chamonix and Aosta, and crossed the Great St Bernard Pass to the Swiss town of Martigny, halfway into the tour. Once thought to be Wales, this view is now believed to be of Martigny, featuring the thirteenth century Château de la Bâtiaz, depicted in several of Turner’s pencil drawings.</p><p><em>Gallery label, February 2010</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
5 August 2009 – 19 July 2010
2010-07-19
5 August 2009 – 19 July 2010
2010-07-19
2009-08-05
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2009-08-05
Turner Abroad
Collection based display
6 July 2019 – 2 May 2021
2021-05-02
6 July 2019 – 13 October 2019
2019-10-13
2019-07-06
Kunstmuseum (Luzern, Switzerland)
http://www.kunstmuseumluzern.ch
8 November 2019 – 26 January 2020
2020-01-26
2019-11-08
LWL-Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Westfälisches (Munster, Germany)
http://landesmuseum.lwl.org
20 February 2020 – 7 September 2020
2020-09-07
2020-02-20
Frist Center for the Visual Arts (Nashville, USA)
15 October 2020 – 2 May 2021
2021-05-02
2020-10-15
Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec (Québec, Canada)
http://www.mnba.qc.ca
2019-07-06
The Sea and the Alps: Turner's Quest for the Sublime
Tate partnerships & programmes
6 July 2024 – 15 January 2028
2028-01-15
6 July 2024 – 1 September 2024
2024-09-01
2024-07-06
Grimaldi Forum (Monaco, Monaco)
30 September 2024 – 7 May 2025
2025-05-07
2024-09-30
Museum of Art Pudong (Shanghai, China)
21 June 2025 – 5 October 2025
2025-10-05
2025-06-21
Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art (Brisbane, Australia)
1 June 2026 – 1 October 2026
2026-10-01
2026-06-01
External
15 November 2026 – 15 March 2027
2027-03-15
2026-11-15
External
1 May 2027 – 1 September 2027
2027-09-01
2027-05-01
External
15 October 2027 – 15 January 2028
2028-01-15
2027-10-15
External
2024-07-06
Turner's Sublime Legacy
Tate partnerships & programmes
Mountain Scene with Castle, Probably Martigny
support: 438 × 540 mm
frame: 635 × 740 × 100 mm
Accepted by the nation as part of the <a href="/search?gid=999999781" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Turner Bequest</a> 1856
<p>Through Paris and the Alps, Turner was accompanied by Newbey Lowson, a country gentleman of similar age, and an amateur draughtsman who was himself keen to sketch the picturesque scenery abroad. Lowson, who acted as Turner’s ‘paymaster’ for the tour, largely determined his itinerary. From Grenoble, they travelled to Geneva, Chamonix and Aosta, and crossed the Great St Bernard Pass to the Swiss town of Martigny, halfway into the tour. Once thought to be Wales, this view is now believed to be of Martigny, featuring the thirteenth century Château de la Bâtiaz, depicted in several of Turner’s pencil drawings.</p>

Display caption
2010-02-18T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>145b. </b>[<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-mountain-scene-with-castle-probably-martigny-n00465" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N00465</span></a>]<b> Mountain Scene with Castle, probably Martigny</b>
<i>c.</i> 1802–3
<br/>
<br/>THE TATE GALLERY, LONDON (465)
<br/>Canvas, 17 1/4 × 21 1/4 (44 × 54)
<br/><b>Coll.</b> Turner Bequest 1856 (94, ‘Mountain Scene with Castle’ 1'9" × 1'5 1/2"); transferred to the Tate Gallery 1910.
<br/><b>Exh.</b> <i>Richard Wilson</i> Tate Gallery, 1925 (67); Tate Gallery 1934 (6); Amsterdam, Berne, Paris, Brussels,</p>
<p>Liege (2), Venice and Rome (3), 1947–8; Cardiff 1951; R.A. 1974–5 (35).</p>
<p><b>Lit.</b> Thornbury 1862, i, p. 262; 1877, p. 418; Armstrong 1902, p. 225; MacColl 1920, p. 3; Davies 1946, p. 187; Rothenstein and Butlin 1964, p. 10, pl. 8, Wilkinson 1972, p. 72, repr.; Andrew Wilton in exh. cat., Llandudno and Swansea 1984, p. 50.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Until recently this was thought to be a view in Wales and it has in fact been related to sketches in the ‘Dinevor Castle’ sketchbook, which Turner was using in 1978, especially those tentatively identified as Caer Cennen (XL-37 <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/r/recto-verso" title="Glossary definition for 'Recto / Verso'"><span>verso</span></a> and 38, repr. Wilkinson, <i>loc. cit.</i>, and 39 verso and 40; see also XL-84 verso, repr. Wilkinson, p. 73, and XLVI-107 from the ‘Dolbadarn’ sketchbook of 1798–9).
<br/>
<br/>However, the relationship to the castle seen in the ‘Dinevor Castle’ sketchbook is not exact and Andrew Wilton, comparing the castle to that in the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/w/watercolour" title="Glossary definition for 'Watercolour'"><span>watercolour</span></a> of Martigny executed <i>c.</i> 1827 and <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/e/engraving" title="Glossary definition for 'Engraving'"><span>engraved</span></a> by W.B. Cooke for Rogers's <i>Italy</i> (CCLXXX-154) (repr. Russell and Wilton 1976, p. 65), is convinced that the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> shows La Bâtiaz at Martigny, seen by Turner on his first visit to the Alps in 1802. The peaks of the mountains also seem to be too sharp for Wales and closer to those in the Alps. <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>Drawings</span></a> of La Bâtiaz also appear in the ‘Grenoble’ sketchbook, used on the 1802 visit (LXXIV, especially pp. 54, 64 and 87) and in a colour beginning <i>c.</i> 1820 (CXCVI-Q), on <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/paper" title="Glossary definition for 'Paper'"><span>paper</span></a> water-marked 1813 (repr. in colour Russell and Wilton <i>op. cit.</i>, p. 72). Turner does not seem to have visited Martigny again after 1802. He presumably painted this work back in England, interpreting the scene in the matter of Salvator Rosa just as he had interpreted Bonneville in the manner of Poussin (Nos. 46 and 50).</p>
<p>
<br/><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, <i>The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner</i>, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-22T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
adults Alps architecture bank cities, towns, villages (non-UK) cloud countries and continents figure lake landscape Martigny, La Bâtiaz military mountain natural features (non-UK) people places ruins Switzerland tree water: inland weather