i. (main sketch, to left) Mont Blanc from Fort Roch, a similar view to that recorded in a sketch of
Fort Roch, Val d’Aosta (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge)
1 made on Turner’s first visit to the area in 1802. It is interesting that the present sketch seems to precede the two flanking it, which would suggest that Turner was working his way up the valley at this point.
ii. (top of the sheet next to the gutter, with the sketchbook in the upright position) The tower of the Castle of Chatelard in the Val d’Aosta, with the tower of Morgex church, lower right. Inscribed ‘S Rosa’, presumably meaning Salvator Rosa (1615–1673), a painter whose speciality was the depiction of wild country fit for bandits.
iii. Mont Blanc from near La Salles, Val d’Aosta, with the tower of Chatelard to the right.
iv (bottom left and inverted in relation to the main sketch) A tiny thumbnail sketch of a village in the Val d’Aosta, with a fortified tower but no church visible; the village might be Avise, since it is possible for the church spire to be hidden behind the castle from a viewpoint directly opposite on the main road. Sketches of Avise occur on the facing page (
D29068; Turner Bequest CCXCIII 19).
v. (top left and inverted in relation to the main sketch) Mont Blanc from above La Salles, as inscribed ‘Sall’ below the sketch to the right, with the church visible lower centre and the tower of Chatelard to the right.
