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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Northern Italy or Switzerland c.1828-44 > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner ?Northern Italian or Swiss Mountains c.1828-44

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘?Northern Italian or Swiss Mountains’ c.1828-44
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
?Northern Italian or Swiss Mountains c.1828–44
D34588
Turner Bequest CCCXLIV 193
Pencil on off-white wove paper, 140 x 191 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘[... ?M...]’ bottom left, descending diagonally
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram left of centre
Inscribed in red ink ‘193’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCCXLIV 193’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This loosely rendered, apparently mountainous subject is unidentified, but may be in the north of Italy or neighbouring Switzerland; see the Introduction to this section for further brief discussion and dating.
There is another mountain drawing on the verso (D34589; Turner Bequest CCCXLIV 193v); the views were made on one half of a folded sheet, with D34587 (Turner Bequest CCCXLIV 192v) opposite the present sketch and D34586 (Turner Bequest CCCXLIV 192) on its recto.
Finberg noted: ‘(Nos. [Turner Bequest CCCXLIV] 174–226 were among the contents of a parcel endorsed by Mr. [John] Ruskin, – “B. 2. Forty-eight pieces of paper, some double or 4-ple. Pencil outline, same class as B. 1.”).’1
1
Finberg 1909, II, p.1123.
Technical notes:
The unusually heavy textured paper matches that of another sheet used for similar subjects (Tate D34577–D34580; Turner Bequest CCCXLIV 187–188v) and the two were originally one, having been folded into quarters and torn in half. One side appears to have been prepared with a light grey-brown wash.

Matthew Imms
February 2016

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘?Northern Italian or Swiss Mountains c.1828–44 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, February 2016, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2016, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-northern-italian-or-swiss-mountains-r1183063, accessed 21 November 2024.