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

This study relates to Turner’s 1836 tour of the Alps, which he made in the company of the wealthy Scottish landowner H.A.J. Munro of Novar; for more information, see the Introduction to this section.

This is one of a group of quick sketches Turner made around the French town of Sallanches in the Arve Valley in 1836; for others made on loose sheets, see Tate D34278 and D34279 (Turner Bequest and 77). For studies made in the Val d’Aosta sketchbook, see Tate D29087, D29104, D29107, D29152 and D29169 (Turner Bequest CCXCIII 28a, 37, 38a, 62 and 70a). A watercolour identified by the Turner scholar David Hill as a view of Sallanches from further up the valley may also have resulted from the visit (private collection1); although Ian Warrell has since argued it is a view of Chambery,2 Hill stands by his original identification.3

As Hill has determined, for both the present sketch and the related loose sheets Turner explored beyond the town itself, walking above the church to higher ground and noting the resulting view across Sallanches and the Arve Valley towards Mont Blanc.4

Technical notes:

Turner began using this paper in Geneva at the outset of his 1836 tour of the Alps. For more information, see the Technical notes section for Tate D34195 (Turner Bequest CCCXLII 11).

Verso:

Blank, save for inscriptions: inscribed in pencil ‘AB24 P O’ bottom right.