Turner was able to make his first tour of France and Switzerland between June 10th and October 20th, 1802 during the brief Peace of Amiens. Although already familiar with the Alps through the works of John Robert Cozens, this personal experience was to influence him for the rest of his life. There he filled his sketchbooks with drawings that were used as the source for late finished watercolours. This watercolour of the Lake of Thun, which was executed circa 1806, is based upon two drawings in the “Lake of Thun Sketchbook” on the wrapper of which John Ruskin wrote, “Detached leaves of the book from which the Study for the lake Thun in Liber Studiorum was taken. Of great value and interest (J.R., 1858).” The work reveals Turner’s life long preoccupation with the sublime qualities of landscape, of the effects of storm light on the mountains and the overwhelming grandeur of nature. Slightly late Turner produced a sepia drawing of the Lake of Thun which follows the general forms of this watercolour and was used for the engraving of the subject in the Liber Studoiorum
Exhibition of Watercolours in the Collection of Walter Fawkes, of Farnley Hall, Grosvenor Place, London 1819, number 26 The Farnley Hall Collection of Turner Drawings in the Possession of F.W. Fawkes, Esq. Colnaghi, Scott & Co. 1864, number 32 Turner 1775-1851, Royal Academy, London, number 68 Coronation Exhibition, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon Tyne 1953, number 26
Finberg A.J., Turner’s Water-Colours at Farnley Hall, The Studio, illustrated page 66 Mauclair Camille, Turner, Paris 1939, illustrated page 66 Russell John and Wilton Andrew, Turner in Switzerland, Switzerland 1976, pages 58-59, illustrated in colour Wilton Andrew, J.M.W. Turner, His Life and Art, New York 1979, number 373, illustrated in colour page 97 Armstrong Sir Water, Turner Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York 1902, page 280
