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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Southern Germany, Austria and Venice ... > Venice up to Trento Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Distant Mountains; the Walls of Castelfranco Veneto, ?with a Watermill and Sluice 1833

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Distant Mountains; the Walls of Castelfranco Veneto, ?with a Watermill and Sluice’ 1833
Folio 98 Recto:
Distant Mountains; the Walls of Castelfranco Veneto, ?with a Watermill and Sluice 1833
D31788
Turner Bequest CCCXII 98
Pencil on white laid paper, 203 x 109 mm
Inscribed by C.F. Bell in black ink ‘98’ top left, upside down
Stamped in black ‘CCCXII – 98’ top left, upside down
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The mountain view here is limited to a cursory, wavy skyline, tailing off from one of two rapid studies on folio 97 verso opposite (D31787), presumably in a swift record of the Alpine terrain through which Turner would use most of this sketchbook, made in the vicinity of Treviso (see the other page) or neighbouring Castelfranco Veneto.
The latter is the subject of the other sketch on this page, the other way up and inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation. A section of the walls around the fortified centre is shown; the town’s square plan is surrounded by a moat-like watercourse, and there seem to be rough indications of a millwheel and a sluice gate. There is a similar view immediately opposite, apparently of a nearby aspect rather than a direct continuation. Compare the more detailed studies on folio 96 verso (D31785), and see under folio 5 verso (D31606) for more at the other end of this book.
Verso:
Blank

Matthew Imms
May 2019

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Distant Mountains; the Walls of Castelfranco Veneto, ?with a Watermill and Sluice 1833’, catalogue entry, May 2019, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, March 2023, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/distant-mountains-the-walls-of-castelfranco-veneto-with-a-watermill-and-sluice-r1203982, accessed 30 April 2025.