Upper Fall of the Reichenbach: Rainbow

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Artist: J. M. W. Turner (British, 1775–1851)
Medium: Watercolor, gouache, graphite, and scraping out on medium, slightly textured, cream wove paper
Size: Sheet: 11 x 15 1/2 inches (27.9 x 39.4 cm)
Museum: Yale Center for British Art
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

These watercolors were produced during two different European tours, one when Turner was consolidating his mature technique around 1810, and the other when this was giving way to his final, more overtly expressive style in the late 1830s. Upper Fall of the Reichenbach: Rainbow illustrates Turner’s use of special techniques for conveying visual effects. Particularly notable is the way he has used scratching out to highlight the dramatic spray of the vertiginous waterfall.

This was done by scraping through drying paints, usually with his thumbnail, which he kept specially sharpened for the purpose. Monaco at Sunset from the Southwest was produced on a tour of the Mediterranean coast. The vivid palette and dense bodycolor are typical of the artist’s later watercolors but have few parallels in the works of his contemporaries.

Text: Yale Center for British Art.