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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Second Italian Tour 1828-9 > Rome, Turin and Milan Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A View 1828-9

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A View’ 1828-9
Folio 2 Recto:
Boats and Ramparts 1829
D21666
Turner Bequest CCXXXV 2
Pencil on cream wove paper, 90 x 144 mm
Inscribed in red ink ‘2’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ink ‘CCXXXV – 2’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
In his 1909 Inventory of the Bequest, Finberg resorted to the generic title ‘A view’ for this study,1 and its obscure forms and markings are indeed difficult to make out. Ramparts and fortifications appear in the distance, with moored boats along the bank of a river or lake in the foreground. The artist’s precise geographical location remains unclear, although he was presumably near the River Ticino or River Po, travelling westwards from Milan to Turin. This view likely relates to similar studies of moored boats on folio 1 verso opposite and folios 3 recto and verso (D21665, D21668–D21669).
1
Finberg 1909, II, p.721.
Technical notes:
The lower (outer) edge of the page is uneven, possibly through a manufacturing fault.

Hannah Kaspar
November 2024

How to cite

Hannah Kaspar, ‘Boats and Ramparts 1829’, catalogue entry, November 2024, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, February 2025, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/boats-and-ramparts-r1210307, accessed 26 April 2025.