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

This loosely rendered horizontal sketch shows a valley among hills or mountains without any conspicuous landmarks. This sketchbook covers Turner’s homeward route from Augsburg north-westwards to Rotterdam (see under folios 1 verso and 14 recto respectively; D32543, D32568; CCCXXII 2a, 15). As set out in the Introduction, although his general itinerary is clear from many identified subjects as he travelled down the River Rhine, they were are not drawn in a single sequence, making the less distinctive subjects between them difficult to place.

The view, which has the characteristics of a slight ‘carriage sketch’ made while under way, is on the verso of the last of the numerous Augsburg views (D32554). It was possibly made as Turner travelled back through the Alpine Swabian Jura between Ulm and Stuttgart, retracing his route from the outward leg of this tour. This suggestion is only by association with tentative identifications of the subjects on folios 8 recto and verso (D32556–D32557; CCCXXII 9, 9a) as Geislingen and near Göppingen respectively.

Technical notes:

The pale brown staining at the centre of the outer edge is owing to the leaf’s proximity to the leather pencil loop anchored under the front paste-down (D32541; CCCXXII 1).