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

With the page inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, there are two similar views, with chalet-style houses (characterised by shallow roofs with overhanging eaves) below looming mountain backdrops. Arrayed as if in the foreground of the top sketch, there are five or six of what seem to be shields and heraldic devices, but whether they were directly part of the scene or (perhaps more likely) details observed nearby is unclear.

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 (Bozen) 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 scenes between them difficult to place.