J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

D29595–D29771; D41099; D41200–D41201

Turner Bequest CCXCVI 1–91a

Sketchbook quarter bound in grey boards with red leather spine and remains of a brass clasp
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘Brussels up to Mannheim–Rhine’ on back cover
Signed in black ink by Charles Turner and inscribed ‘No 337 Contains 86 Leaves | Pencil Sketches all on both sides’ and signed in pencil by John Prescott Knight ‘JPK’ and Charles Locke Eastlake ‘C.L.E.’ on folio 1 recto (Tate D29595; Turner Bequest CCXCVI 1)
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram on spine of front cover
Stamped in black ‘CCXCVI’ top right of front cover, top left of back cover, top right of inside front cover
91 leaves of cream wove paper
Watermark ‘j jellyman | 1828’
Approximate size of page 113 x 185 mm

Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856

Entitled Brussels up to Mannheim–Rhine after an inscription by Turner on the back cover, this was the first of four sketchbooks used by the artist on his 1833 tour to Venice via Germany and Austria. It was purchased in England, unlike the three others associated with the tour, and is bound in grey boards with a red leather spine and the remains of a brass clasp. The sketchbook chronicles Turner’s journey from Ostend (Tate D29596; Turner Bequest CCXCVI 1a), where he docked, to Mannheim (Tate D29755–D29756; Turner Bequest CCXCVI 81a–82) where he left the Rhine to join the Neckar for the next leg of the tour (recorded in the Heidelberg up to Salzburg sketchbook, Tate D29814–D29987; D29989–D29998; D30000–D30001; D41209–D41210; Turner Bequest CCXCVIII 1–98a).

Sketches were taken along the way at Bruges (Tate D29609; Turner Bequest CCXCVI 7), Ghent (Tate D29614; Turner Bequest CCXCVI 9a) and Liège (Tate D29673; Turner Bequest CCXCVI 39a), with detours up the Meuse to Namur and Huy where Turner had been in 1824 (Tate D29655–D29656; Turner Bequest CCXCVI 30–30a).1 He then travelled across land to Cologne (Tate D29679; Turner Bequest CCXCVI 43), going up the Rhine by steamer via Coblenz (Tate D29664–D29665; Turner Bequest CCXCVI 34a–35), Mainz (Tate D29764–D29765; Turner Bequest CCXCVI 88–88a) and Worms (Tate D29766; Turner Bequest CCXCVI 89).

There are some notable diversions from the predominantly landscape subjects in this sketchbook. Two studies of a female reclining nude, for example, can be found on Tate D29769–D29770; Turner Bequest CCXCVI 90a–91, along with a series of travel notes recording accounts, distances or timings at various destinations along Turner’s route. The sketchbook also opens with a remedy for an upset stomach (Tate D41099), consisting of ‘Tincture of Rhubarb’, ‘25 drops’ of laudanum and a grain of Ipecacuanha, among other ingredients.