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Sotheby’s London

One of the Greatest Works by Turner Still in Private Hands Comes to the Market

Sotheby’s London

The arrangement, however, was always that the picture should be returned to Turner’s gallery on completion of the engraving, and it was here that it was seen and acquired by the man that would become one of Turner’s greatest patrons, Elhanan Bicknell. Bicknell may well have been introduced to Turner’s work by John Ruskin, a Herne Hill neighbour and a staunch advocate of Turner’s work. In the space of just two years, between 1841 and 1844, Bicknell acquired no fewer than seven large-scale masterpieces by Turner – the majority of which now hang in some of the world’s greatest museums, including Tate Britain, The Yale Centre for British Art, The Frick Collection, and The Metropolitan Museum in New York (see below for full details). On his death in 1863, Bicknell’s vast collection, including this painting, was dispersed at auction, generating huge excitement and achieving sensational prices. Since then the work has appeared only twice on the market, most recently in 1965, when it achieved a price of £88,000, setting a new world record for a work by the artist.

CRITICAL ACCLAIM
The mid-1830s saw the production of some of Turner’s most celebrated paintings. The great Rosebery view of Rome, from Mount Aventine, which sold at Sotheby’s in 2014 for a record £30 million ($47.6 million), would have been nearing completion in the artist’s studio when he set to work on Ehrenbreitstein, and The Fighting Temeraire was shown at the Academy just four years later.

In May 1835, Ehrenbreitstein was exhibited at the Academy alongside four other great works: Keelmen Heaving in Coals by Moonlight (now in the National Gallery of Art in Washington); Venice, from the Porch of Madonna della Salute (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York); Line Fishing off Hastings (Victoria and Albert Museum, London); and The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons (The Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio). Of all five exhibits, however, it was Ehrenbreitstein that the public loved most, and that the critics judged the best. The correspondent for The Spectator called it ‘a splendid tribute of genius to one of the champions of freedom’, whilst The Times lauded ‘the force of colour and the admirable harmony of tone [which] are not to be equalled by any living artist’.

THE SUBJECT OF THE PAINTING
More than just a landscape, Turner’s full title for the painting, Ehrenbreitstein, or The Bright Stone of Honour and the Tomb of Marceau, from Byron’s Childe Harold, reflects a passage from Canto III of Lord Byron’s epic poem, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage – bringing together two of the most romantic figures of the nineteenth century. Turner shared Byron’s romantic sensibilities and had long held him in the greatest admiration. Also, both had lived through the tumult of the French Revolutionary wars, and both had a keen sense of the deep significance of the ensuing peace.

In the poem Byron refers to the fortress of Ehrenbreitstein in the context of his own sense of melancholy and disillusionment in the aftermath of those wars. But for Turner it would seem that the fortress represents something more positive: that peace has vanquished war. The ancient fortress, almost dissolved in a hazy light, is now but a backdrop to the enduring everyday activities of the Rhine and Moselle valleys.

Beneath the fortress can be seen the stone obelisk to the great French General François-Sévérine Marceau-Desgraviers. Having taking part in the sieges of Ehrenbreitstein in 1795 and 1796, Marceau was a French hero par excellence. At the same time, his courage and magnanimous nature won him the respect of even his greatest enemies. His funeral, just north of Coblenz, was attended by a delegation from the same Austrian army who had been responsible for his death. Like the fortress itself, Marceau has slipped into history but still represents the possibility of peace and unity in Europe.

In Ehrenbreitstein, Turner has created an image that speaks in a profound way to both the eye and the mind – a duality that is at the heart of his unique artistic genius.






  • 05.07.2017
    Auktion »
    Sotheby’s Auktionshaus »

    EHRENBREITSTEIN - TRAVELLING EXHIBITION:
    Cologne: Los Angeles: New York: Hong Kong: Paris:
    5th April
    1st - 3rd May (by appointment) 5th - 15th May
    25th - 31st May
    10th - 12th June



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  • Turner’s Ehrenbreitstein, estimate of £15-25 million (US$18.7-31.2m / €17.3-28.9m).
    Turner’s Ehrenbreitstein, estimate of £15-25 million (US$18.7-31.2m / €17.3-28.9m).
    Sotheby’s Auktionshaus
  • William Turner animation click images.
    William Turner animation click images.
    Sotheby’s Auktionshaus