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

With the page turned all four ways, aspects of the medieval walls of Castelfranco Veneto are shown; there are more sketches on folio 5 verso opposite (D31606), under which the subject is discussed. The fortified core of the town is on a square plan, within a moat-like watercourse surrounded by an outer road, although mature trees now preclude a clear view of the walls at various points.

In the top drawing here, the view is south to the bridge leading to the eastern gate below the Torre Civica, distinguished by its cupola. At right-angles below to the right, the tower is shown again, but from inside the town, looking along the present Via Francesco Maria Preti, with an arcade on the right. Below that, now with the outer edge along the top of the view, a corner tower is truncated in the foreground, with its castellated top continued to the left. Lastly, inverted relative to the first Torre Civica view, there are two loosely rendered scenes with trees, continued from views of the town’s western gateway on the opposite page.