Flüelen, from the Lake of Lucerne (1845): Art, History and Details

Flüelen, from the Lake of Lucerne (1845) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Joseph Mallord William Turner (British, 1775–1851).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the 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.

Object facts

• Title: Flüelen, from the Lake of Lucerne
• Date: 1845
• Creator attribution: Joseph Mallord William Turner (British, 1775–1851)
• Culture: England, 19th century
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: watercolor with gouache and scratch-away
• Dimensions: Sheet: 29.2 x 47.9 cm (11 1/2 x 18 7/8 in.)
• Collection: DR - British
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 1954.129

A detail from the museum

The art critic John Ruskin described the series of watercolors to which this work belongs as "sunset drawings," referring to to the fact that they were made at the end of Turner's career rather than their subject matter.

Collection credit

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Temple, A. G. Catalogue of the Loan Collection of Pictures and Drawings by J.M.W. Turner, and of a Selection of Pictures by Some of His Contemporaries. Exh. Cat. London: East & Blades, 1899.
• Wedmore, Frederick, ed. Turner and Ruskin: An Exposition of the Work of Turner from the Writings of Ruskin. London: G. Allen, 1900.
• Armstrong, Sir Walter. Turner. London: T. Agnew, 1902.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.