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 Alpine Mountains with a Distant Castle; the Herkulesbrunnen Fountain on Maximilianstrasse, Augsburg, with the Rathaus, the Perlachturm and the Spires of the Cathedral in the Distance 1833

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Alpine Mountains with a Distant Castle; the Herkulesbrunnen Fountain on Maximilianstrasse, Augsburg, with the Rathaus, the Perlachturm and the Spires of the Cathedral in the Distance’ 1833
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 65 Recto:
Alpine Mountains with a Distant Castle; the Herkulesbrunnen Fountain on Maximilianstrasse, Augsburg, with the Rathaus, the Perlachturm and the Spires of the Cathedral in the Distance 1833
D31724
Turner Bequest CCCXII 65
Pencil on white laid paper, 109 x 203 mm
Inscribed by C.F. Bell in black ink ‘65’ top right, ascending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCCXII – 65’ top right, ascending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The page was used horizontally both ways. Inverted relative to the more conspicuous townscape described below, and likely drawn first, a mountain range with a distant castle is shown; its upper peaks continue a little way ‘up’ onto folio 64 verso opposite (D31723), where there is a comparable view, perhaps made in the vicinity. 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.
Finberg later annotated his 1909 Inventory entry (‘Street scene, with fountain. (? Innsbruch [sic].)’), crossing out the last word and adding: ‘probably Augsburg’.1 The Turner scholar C.F. Bell marked another copy, again crossing out ‘Innsbruch’, remarking ‘not’, and adding: ‘?Augsburg’.2 For Innsbruck, see under folio 17 recto (D31629); however, as confirmed by Cecilia Powell, the subject here is indeed Augsburg.3
The view is to the north along Maximilianstrasse, with the Herkulesbrunnen fountain, featuring Adriaen de Vries’s bronze of Hercules fighting the Hydra, in the foreground. The twin onion domes of the Rathaus are on the near side of the Perlachturm in the middle distance, with the spires of the Cathedral beyond. Taller buildings preclude the equivalent view today. A more detailed variant fills the whole of the verso (D31725). The fountain and its surroundings are seen from other angles on folios 50 verso and 64 recto (D31969, D31722), while there are views northwards from further forward on folios 30 recto and 49 verso (D31655, D31694). For other Augsburg views, see under D31655.

Matthew Imms
May 2019

1
Undated MS note by Finberg (died 1939) in interleaved copy of Finberg 1909, Prints and Drawings Room, Tate Britain, II, p.1007.
2
Undated MS note by Bell (died 1966) in copy of Finberg 1909, Prints and Drawings Room, Tate Britain, II, p.1007.
3
See Powell 1995, pp.44, 79 note 85.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Alpine Mountains with a Distant Castle; the Herkulesbrunnen Fountain on Maximilianstrasse, Augsburg, with the Rathaus, the Perlachturm and the Spires of the Cathedral in the Distance 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-alpine-mountains-with-a-distant-castle-the-herkulesbrunnen-r1203919, accessed 17 July 2024.