Chatel Argent and the Val d'Aosta from above Villeneuve

Chatel Argent and the Val d'Aosta from above Villeneuve

Joseph Mallord William Turner

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The French alpine view begins above the road to St. Pierre and looks back to Chatel Argent with the Church of St. Roch described below the castle at left. Extending beyond are the river, old bridge and town of Villeneuve, backed by the Val de Rhemes and summit of the Grande Rousse. The carefully applied layers of watercolor likely were applied in the studio, or at a hotel after a day's sketching, although the effects convey the spontaneity and unfinished sensibilty of a work executed before the motif. The attribution of this sheet was once questioned but conservation in 2001 affirmed it to be a beautiful and authentic work.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Chatel Argent and the Val d'Aosta from above VilleneuveChatel Argent and the Val d'Aosta from above VilleneuveChatel Argent and the Val d'Aosta from above VilleneuveChatel Argent and the Val d'Aosta from above VilleneuveChatel Argent and the Val d'Aosta from above Villeneuve

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.