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

Inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, the top third of the page is taken up with a view of the Torre Vanga in Trento, seen to the north along what is now the Via della Prepositura, where the buildings shown here do not survive. The tower guarded the city’s Portella gateway, leading on to the old wooden bridge over the River Adige (Etsch), since diverted nearby. The height of the tower has since been somewhat diminished, as it has lost its enclosed upper level and shallow roof and acquired battlements instead; it is seen in two views from across the river, on folios 41 verso and 42 recto (D31678–D31679).

The tower inconspicuously noted at the right-hand edge here is the campanile of Santa Maria Maggiore, which can be seen today from the corner of the square leading off the street. Folio 77 recto opposite (D31746) is a full-page view of the nearby cathedral square. The significance of the rough ‘X’ at the top left is unclear; possibly also a Trento subject, a street view on folio 81 verso (D31755) is marked in a similar way.

There are two similar mountain views below, likely made subsequently, looking across a plain or valley. The peaks of the first are labelled with ‘Snow’, but otherwise the scattered notes, presumably including place names, are difficult to decipher. Over half of the pages in this book comprise or include 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 not mentioned in the associated text, this page would of necessity have been shown during the 1999 Turner’s Later Papers exhibition at the Tate Gallery, as it is opposite folio 77 recto (D31746), the catalogued and reproduced work.1