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

Finberg later annotated his 1909 Inventory entry (‘Mountains. – “Solina G... (?). | P... | Primolano. | Grincio (Grigno). | Borgo. | Trento.”’), marking the first line of the transcription ‘– Sologna’, and adding ‘– di Valsugana’ after ‘Borgo’.1 He also suggested the settings of folios 10 recto–14 recto (D31615–D31623): ‘10–14. Prbly Val Sugana. Between Bassano & Primolano’.2

With the page inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, below the centre is a list of place names, much as Finberg noted: ‘Solina G[...] | [?B...] | Pr[?imo]lano | Grin[?c]io | Borgo | Trento’.3 There are complementary notes of this unfamiliar section of Turner’s homeward route on folios 2 recto and 81 recto (D31599, D31754). The legible ones here refer to Solagna (see the recto; D31615), Primolano (see folios 13 verso–16 verso; D31622–D31628), Grigno, and Borgo Valsugana (see folios 18 verso, 19 recto and 20 verso; D31632–D31633, D31636) along the winding Valsugana section of the Brenta Valley, and the city of Trento to their west (see under folio 37 recto; D31669).

There are also three loosely rendered mountain scenes, two with slight indications of buildings (the second illegibly inscribed) and a third showing a narrow pass. 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, although Finberg’s suggestion of the Valsugana is a possibility here and on adjacent pages.