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

The view is north-north-westwards along the outer perimeter of Augsburg’s eastern Jakobervorstadt district. Overlooking the city’s moat in the foreground is the imposing medieval Jakobertor gateway above its wooden bridge, with the distinctive turreted profile of the Fünfgratturm (or Fünffingerlesturm) in the distance; the latter is seen again in the complementary view south on the recto (D32548). The walls and towers in between, along Untere-Jakobermauer, do not survive apart from a short section lined with low buildings beyond the Jakobertor itself, and trees now line the rest of the bank.

One lane of the broad Jakoberstrasse, which now crosses in the foreground, still runs through the tower’s archway. The elaborate Renaissance tower in the middle distance is presumably the upper (‘obere’) Sankt-Jakobs-Wasserturm (or Jakober Wasserturm), built in the early seventeenth century as one of two similar water towers along this section. It was destroyed in 1944,1 but its lower (‘untere’) counterpart, shown on folio 3 verso (D32547; CCCXXII 4a), still stands not far to the north. The lost tower is shown from this angle in old watercolours and engravings.2

This is one of a sequence between folios 2 recto and 6 recto (D32544–D32552; CCCXXII 3–7) comprising a clockwise survey of the Jakobervorstadt’s walls, with their picturesque towers and gatehouses; see under the view of Augsburg’s cathedral on folio 1 verso (D32543; CCCXXII 2a) for other views in and around the city from this tour.

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).