Caudebec-en-Caux and Surroundings Artist: Turner, Joseph Mallord William
The English Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner was born on April 23, 1775, in Covent Garden, London, and died on December 19, 1851, in Chelsea, London. He is one of the most celebrated English painters, renowned primarily for his groundbreaking work in landscape painting, both in oil and watercolor. Turner showed artistic promise from a young age and enrolled at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1789, exhibiting his first work there just a year later. His technical skill and his grasp of light, atmosphere, and color quickly set him apart from his contemporaries.
Turner traveled extensively throughout Britain and continental Europe, particularly Italy and Switzerland, and his travels deeply influenced his style. His early work is topographically accurate and detailed, but as his career progressed, he became increasingly experimental. He began dissolving forms into light and color, often anticipating Impressionist and even Abstract aesthetics by decades. Some of his most famous works include The Fighting Temeraire (1839), Rain, Steam and Speed (1844), and Snow Storm: Hannibal and his Army Crossing the Alps (1812). These paintings demonstrate his intense preoccupation with nature’s power and with transient effects of light and weather.
Turner was extremely prolific, producing thousands of drawings, watercolors, and paintings over his lifetime. He kept a large number of these works private during his life, and upon his death, he bequeathed much of his collection to the British nation. This legacy is now housed mainly at Tate Britain in London, where the Turner Bequest remains one of the most important public collections of an individual artist’s work.
Although he was often considered eccentric and difficult, Turner was deeply committed to his art and fiercely protective of his independence. His later work, which often verged on abstraction, puzzled many of his contemporaries but has since been recognized as visionary. Today, Turner is regarded as a foundational figure in the history of modern art, someone whose daring treatment of color, atmosphere, and light redefined what landscape painting could be.
NOTE: Please note that Caudebec-en-Caux was merged with neighboring towns in 2016 and is now officially known as “Rives-en-Seine.” However, since the artists referred to the town by its original name in their works, we will continue to use “Caudebec-en-Caux” when discussing their paintings.
Duclair
The town of Duclair (population: 4,200) lies to the East of Caudebec-en-Caux (now called Rives-en-Seine) and West from Rouen and its located along the Seine river.
NOTE: The “Chaise de Gargantua” makes reference to a mythical giant. Turner painted his chair.
Jumieges
The village of Jumieges (population: 1,800) is dominated by its abbey (in ruins), and it is located to the South/East of Caudebec-en-Caux and to the West of Rouen.
TODAY: The Abbey still exists but it is mostly in ruins. However, it can still be visited.
These were the paintings he made in Caudebec, Duclair and Jumieges.