Joseph Mallord William Turner

This work is one of three designs developed for a book commission for engraved views of the Rhine, but another similar project was published before this one, ending the need for Turner to finish his group. In this work, Turner brilliantly portrays a rainbow lightening a saturated sky at a wide bend in the Rhine. Windblown figures in the foreground accentuate the stormy atmosphere. Deep blue and pale greens dominate the sheet, which was then worked into with fine brush to portray details. Turner created highlights in the foreground by scraping away the watercolor, and the rainbow was created by wiping pigment from the sky, probably with a cloth, to reveal the brightness of the paper. The long title (with Boppard misspelled as Bosnart) accompanied the work on the only occasion that it was shown during Turner’s life (1823).