Mortlake Terrace
1827
Artist, British, 1775 - 1851

This painting, one of two views of Mortlake Terrace painted by Turner, is a view from the house, looking directly west into the luminous glow of the setting sun. Turner established the quiet mood of the late-afternoon scene with two ivy-covered elm trees, whose soft, feathery leaves and curving limbs frame the painting. Long shadows create elegant patterns on the lawn that almost obscure the human element in the scene. Scattered about are a gardener's ladder, a hoop, a doll on a red chair, and an open portfolio of pictures that have been just left behind by figures watching the Lord Mayor's ceremonial barge.
The painting was done about eight years after Turner's first stay in Venice, where his perception of nature and the physical world was profoundly changed by the city's unique light and atmosphere. Light immobilizes the river and gives its surface a dreamlike shimmer. The stable mass of the classical gazebo, the delicate linear clarity of its architectural details, and the carefully depicted windows in the buildings on the left bank of the river coexist in Turner's vision with the heavy impasto of the sun's forceful rays that spill over the top of the embankment wall and dissolve the stone's very substance.
More information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication British Paintings of the Sixteenth through Nineteenth Centuries, which is available as a free PDF https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/british-paintings-16th-19th-centuries.pdf

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 57
Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on canvas
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 92.1 x 122.2 cm (36 1/4 x 48 1/8 in.)
framed: 111.1 x 143.2 x 9.5 cm (43 3/4 x 56 3/8 x 3 3/4 in.) -
Accession
1937.1.109
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Painted for William Moffatt [c. 1754/1755-1831], "The Limes," Mortlake. with William Bernard Cooke, the engraver, c. 1831-1838. Harriott, by 1838; (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 23 June 1838, no. 111); bought by Allnutt.[1] The Reverend Edward Thomas Daniell [1804-1842]; (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 17 March 1843, no. 160); M.E. Creswick; sold 1851 to (Thos. Agnew & Sons, London); purchased 1851 by Samuel Ashton;[2] by descent to Elizabeth Gair Ashton [Mrs. Hyde Ashton], Cheshire;[3] by descent to Captain Ashton; sold 1920 jointly to (Thos. Agnew & Sons, London) and (Arthur J. Sulley & Co., London); sold 1920 to (M. Knoedler & Co., London and New York); sold 1 December 1920 to Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.; deeded 28 December 1934 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1937 to NGA.
[1] This is probably John Allnutt (1773-1863), a friend and patron of numerous artists, including Turner, John Constable, and Thomas Lawrence.
[2] Ashton lent the painting in 1857 to the exhibition in Manchester, Art Treasures of the United Kingdom, Paintings by Modern Masters, no. 256.
[3] She lent it to the exhibition, Pictures and Drawings by J.M.W. Turner, R.A., and a Selection of Pictures by some of his Contemporaries, Corporation of London Art Gallery, Guildhall, 1899, no. 23.
Associated Names
- M. Knoedler & Company
- Thomas Agnew & Sons, Ltd.
- Mellon, Andrew W.
- The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust
- Moffatt, William
- Cooke, William Bernard
- Harriott
- Christie, Manson & Woods, Ltd.
- Allnutt, John
- Daniell, Edward Thomas, Rev.
- Creswick, M.E.
- Ashton, Samuel
- Ashton, Elizabeth Gair
- Ashton, Captain
- Arthur J. Sulley & Co.
Exhibition History
1827
Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1827, no. 300.
1857
Art Treasures of the United Kingdom:: Paintings by Modern Masters, Art Treasures Palace, Manchester, 1857, no. 256, as Barnes Terrace (on the Thames).
1899
Pictures and Drawings by J.M.W. Turner, R.A., and a Selection of Pictures by Some of His Contemporaries, Corporation of London Art Gallery, Guildhall, 1899, no. 23.
1909
Works by Early British Masters, City of Manchester Art Gallery, 1909, no. 30.
1974
Turner 1775-1851, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1974-1975, no. 310, repro.
1977
London and the Thames: Paintings of Three Centuries, National Maritime Museum for the Department of Environment, Somerset House, Greenwich, 1977, no. 48, repro.
1983
J.M.W. Turner, Grand Palais, Paris, 1983-1984, no. 36, color repro.
2004
Turner, Whistler, Monet, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris; Tate Britain, London, 2004-2005, no. 4, repro.
2007
J.M.W. Turner, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Dallas Museum of Art; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2007-2008, no. 76, repro.
Bibliography
1827
John Bull 337 (27 May 1827): 165.
Morning Post, 15 June 1827.
1860
Bürger, W. [T. Thoré], Trésors d'Art en Angleterre. Brussels and Ostend, 1860: 425-427.
1862
Thornbury, Walter. The Life of J.M.W. Turner, R.A.. 2 vols. London, 1862: 1:305, 413. (2d ed., 1877).
1902
Armstrong, Sir Walter. Turner. 2 vols. London, 1902, 1:118-119, repro. opp. 120.
1930
Whitley, William T. Art in England 1821-1837. Cambridge, 1930: 131-132, 282.
1937
Jewell, Edward Alden. "Mellon's Gift." Magazine of Art 30, no. 2 (February 1937): 82.
1941
Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 199-200, no. 109.
1942
Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 241, repro. 19.
1949
Paintings and Sculpture from the Mellon Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1949 (reprinted 1953 and 1958): 124, repro.
1956
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1956: 12, repro.
1960
Cooke, Hereward Lester. British Painting in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1960 (Booklet Number Eight in Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.): 38, color repro.
1962
Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. Treasures from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1962: 140, color repro.
1963
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 240, repro.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 132.
1966
Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 2:370, color repro.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 119, repro.
Gandolfo, Giampaolo et al. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Great Museums of the World. New York, 1968: 14.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 352, repro.
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: no. 598, color repro.
1978
King, Marian. Adventures in Art: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1978: 80, pl. 48.
1979
Wilton, Andrew. The Life and Work of J.M.W. Turner. London, 1979: 132, pl. 139 (color detail).
1983
Shanes, Eric. "The Mortlake Conundrum." Turner Studies 3 (1983): 49-50, repro., detail.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 410, no. 583, color repro.
Butlin, Martin, and Evelyn Joll. The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner. 2 vols. New Haven and London, 1977. (2d rev. ed., 1984): 1:147-148; 2:color pl. 237.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 404, repro.
1987
Wilton, Andrew. Turner in his time. London, 1987: 272, color pl. 170.
Gage, John. J.M.W. Turner: "A Wonderful Range of Mind." New Haven and London, 1987: 9-11, fig. 12 (color).
1990
Kemp, Martin. The Science of Art. New Haven and London, 1990: 159, pl. 317.
1991
Kopper, Philip. America's National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 55, 67, color repro.
1992
Hayes, John. British Paintings of the Sixteenth through Nineteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 268-272, color repro. 269.
National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1992: 156, repro.
2003
Hamilton, James. Turner: The Late Seascapes. Exh. cat. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown; Manchester Art Gallery; Burrell Collection, Glasgow. New Haven, London, and Williamstown, 2003: 53, 60-61.
2004
Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 344-345, no. 277, color repro.
2011
Pergam, Elizabeth A. The Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition of 1857: Entrepreneurs, Connoisseurs and the Public. Farnham and Burlington, 2011: 313.
2016
Iacono, Margaret. "The Holland Turners: An epic sale and tale of collaboration." In Colnaghi: Past, Present and Future: An Anthology. Edited by Tim Warner-Johnson and Jeremy Howard. London, 2016: 32, 33 fig. 12, 280 n. 43.
Wikidata ID
Q20185584