Fall of the Rhine at Schaffhausen
Joseph Mallord William Turner
1775–1851
Fall of the Rhine at Schaffhausen, about 1805-06
Oil on canvas
Turner made his mark with the London public by showing large landscapes at the Royal Academy's annual exhibitions. For this painting, exhibited in 1806, Turner employed drawings he made during an 1802 visit to the Swiss Alps. He captured the force of the famous waterfall at Schaffhausen by flattening thick paint with a palette knife, so that the water seems to have the solidity of the rocks whose shape it echoes. In the foreground, a mother rushes to protect her child from fighting carthorses, underscoring the insignificance of human concerns before the awesome power of nature. Had Turner continued in the vein of Fall of the Rhine, he undoubtedly would still be known today as one of Britain's finest landscape painters. His embrace of contemporary subject matter, seen throughout this exhibition, helps define him as the very greatest.
(Description from the MFA website)
Turner’s Modern World
March 27–July 10, 2022
Fall of the Rhine at Schaffhausen
Joseph Mallord William Turner
1775–1851
Fall of the Rhine at Schaffhausen, about 1805-06
Oil on canvas
Turner made his mark with the London public by showing large landscapes at the Royal Academy's annual exhibitions. For this painting, exhibited in 1806, Turner employed drawings he made during an 1802 visit to the Swiss Alps. He captured the force of the famous waterfall at Schaffhausen by flattening thick paint with a palette knife, so that the water seems to have the solidity of the rocks whose shape it echoes. In the foreground, a mother rushes to protect her child from fighting carthorses, underscoring the insignificance of human concerns before the awesome power of nature. Had Turner continued in the vein of Fall of the Rhine, he undoubtedly would still be known today as one of Britain's finest landscape painters. His embrace of contemporary subject matter, seen throughout this exhibition, helps define him as the very greatest.
(Description from the MFA website)
Turner’s Modern World
March 27–July 10, 2022