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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Southern Germany, Austria and Venice ... > Venice up to Trento Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Primolano and the Valsugana 1833

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Primolano and the Valsugana’ 1833
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 15 Verso:
Primolano and the Valsugana 1833
D31626
Turner Bequest CCCXII 15a
Pencil on white laid paper, 109 x 203 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Annotating a copy of his 1909 Inventory, Finberg later suggested the settings of the adjacent folios 14 verso and 15 verso–16 verso (D31624, D31626–D31628): ‘near Primolano, Val Sugana’.1
Drawn with the page turned horizontally, this is one of a sequence of sketches between folios 13 verso and 16 verso (D31622–D31628), overlooking Primolano and its surroundings in a narrow, rugged part of the Valsugana section of the Brenta Valley; see also folio 21 recto (D31637). The viewpoints were likely along the series of hairpin bends known as the ‘Scala’ or ‘Scale’ leading down to the town from the north-east.
In this laterally compressed study the prospect ranges south and west over Primolano, with fortifications on the left, as seen in more detail on folio 14 recto (D31623), and the profile of the cliff west-north-west of the town on the right; compare the right-hand view on the recto (D31625). There is a less detailed reprise on folio 16 recto opposite (D31627), extending the view to the right; see also D31628.
1
Undated MS note by Finberg (died 1939) in interleaved copy of Finberg 1909, Prints and Drawings Room, Tate Britain, II, opposite p.1005.
Technical notes:
There is a slight crease or fault running down the middle of the leaf; compare folio 16 recto opposite (D31627).

Matthew Imms
May 2019

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Primolano and the Valsugana 1833 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2019, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, March 2023, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-primolano-and-the-valsugana-r1203824, accessed 05 July 2024.