CC0 · no rights reserved
Flüelen, from the Lake of Lucerne
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
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.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineFlüelen, from the Lake of Lucerne, 1845. Joseph Mallord William Turner (British, 1775–1851). Watercolor with gouache and scratch-away; sheet: 29.2 x 47.9 cm (11 1/2 x 18 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund, 1954.129
