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

The view is to the east along the narrow square in Bassano del Grappa now called the Piazza Garibaldi; the width of its near end is exaggerated by Turner’s wide angle of view. The Torre Civica, with its battlements and clock, is just behind the buildings on the left, facing the church of San Francesco, with an arched open porch at its west end, seen again in a detail at the bottom left. The frontages along the north and east sides are now higher and more regular, and there is a fountain at the centre. The square building on the left, with echoes of Venetian palazzo architecture, remains recognisable as a shop on the corner of the Via Jacopo Vittorelli, albeit with pairs of arched windows on the first and second floors rather than the three or four at each level seemingly indicated here.

The city stands north-west of Venice, towards the beginning of the long mountainous section of Turner’s homeward route; for its place in the overall itinerary, see the sketchbook’s Introduction. It is possible that the buildings shown on folio 7 verso opposite (D31610) are some of the city’s towers, but they are rendered too swiftly to support more than a tentative suggestion. The various views on folios 9 recto and verso (D31613–D31614) may also be distant views.