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

In this high view up the River Ilz towards Hals, the spire of St Achatius’s Church is seen below in the foreground, with the parish church of St George on the opposite bank beyond. Houses ascend the narrow neck of one of the river’s tight meanders up to the jagged ruins of Burg Hals, aligned slightly west of north from the nearer spire; see Tate D33667 (Turner Bequest CCCXL 2), a colour study in this sketchbook showing the castle from the valley floor, looking back in this direction.

The viewpoint is the heights north of the Oberhaus fortress, which overlooks the confluence of the Ilz with the Danube and the Inn at Passau in the opposite direction (see D33668; CCCXL 3), but denser trees now obstruct a clear view. There is a variant pencil view on D33669 (CCCXL 3), from a little to the east and further back, and including Burg Reschenstein, a small castle north-west of Hals, in the distance. For other contemporary views of Hals, Burg Hals and Passau, see the sketchbook’s Introduction.

Verso:

Blank, save for dabs or offsets of ochre watercolour towards gutter top right, and slight stroke or offset of grey watercolour centre left. These likely relate to the colour coastal study, D33671 (CCCXL 6), assuming (as its Turner Bequest numbering suggests) that it was originally the next recto of this disbound sketchbook; see the technical discussion in its Introduction.

Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘Book no 12’ bottom left; inscribed in pencil ‘CCCXL 5’ top right; stamped in black with Turner Bequest monogram over ‘CCCXL – 5’ bottom right.