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 A Distant View of ?the Towers of Bassano del Grappa above the Brenta Valley; Buildings among Alpine Mountains 1833

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Distant View of ?the Towers of Bassano del Grappa above the Brenta Valley; Buildings among Alpine Mountains’ 1833
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 9 Verso:
A Distant View of ?the Towers of Bassano del Grappa above the Brenta Valley; Buildings among Alpine Mountains 1833
D31614
Turner Bequest CCCXII 9a
Pencil on white laid paper, 109 x 203 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the page turned horizontally, the main view shows an urban skyline in the distance, apparently with a valley in the foreground. The subject is possibly Bassano del Grappa, above the River Brenta; see under folio 8 recto (D31611), a positively identified view within the city. Compare the similar studies on the recto (D31613).
Below, framed by pencil lines, there are two apparently unrelated thumbnail sketches of buildings against mountainous backdrops, with perhaps a village on the left and a castle on the right. 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 rugged scenes between them difficult to place.

Matthew Imms
May 2019

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘A Distant View of ?the Towers of Bassano del Grappa above the Brenta Valley; Buildings among Alpine Mountains 1833 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, 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/joseph-mallord-william-turner-a-distant-view-of-the-towers-of-bassano-del-grappa-above-the-r1203812, accessed 25 November 2024.