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

Finberg later annotated his 1909 Inventory entry (‘Mountains, &c. – “C. . De firma.”’): ‘?Firmiano’.1 The page was used all four ways for about half a dozen overlapping sketches; they are addressed here in terms of the gutter being aligned at the top.

As Finberg suggested, Turner’s inscription likely indicates the Italian name of the dramatically situated Castel Firmiano (Schloss Sigmundskron, now a museum), above the River Adige (Etsch) south-west of Bolzano (Bozen); elsewhere, he used the German form (see folios 24 recto, 43 verso and 46 verso; D31643, D31682, D31688). There are numerous drawings in the vicinity scattered through the sketchbook; for these and further discussion, see under folio 1 verso (D31598). The castle itself appears here, at right-angles to the drawings towards the gutter and framed by pencil lines, to the south with the Dolomites beyond.

The locations of the mountainous scenes arrayed around the Firmiano study, including distant spires, fortifications and perhaps the outskirts of a town, are otherwise unconfirmed. Over half of the pages in this book comprise relatively slight sketches from Turner’s homeward route north through the valleys of the Alps via Trento, Bolzano and Innsbruck. As set out in the Introduction, although his overall itinerary is clear from many identified subjects, they were are not drawn in a single sequence, making the rugged scenes between them difficult to place.