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

Two figures look out over Heidelberg and the Neckar valley from a hillside terrace at Heidelberg Castle. The octagonal Bell Tower and the Castle’s eastern façade can be seen at left; this façade is continued in the sky above, where the Broken Tower and the Gate Tower can be seen. Turner has inscribed the numbers ‘6’, ‘3’, ‘6’, and ‘12’ to record the number of windows. The Church of the Holy Spirit and old bridge in Heidelberg are visible.

For more views of Heidelberg in this sketchbook see Tate D29815–D29865; Turner Bequest CCXCVIII 1a–26a. See also Tate D30132; Turner Bequest CCC 2 within the Salzburg and Danube sketchbook of 1833. For sketches of the city taken in 1841 see the Berne, Heidelberg and Rhine sketchbook (Tate D32957–D32962, D32966; Turner Bequest CCCXXVI 39a–42, 44). For sketches taken during the1844 tour of Heidelberg and the Neckar, see the Spires and Heidelberg sketchbook (Tate D29783, D29795, D29796, D29799, D29801–D29807; Turner Bequest CCXCVII 6a, 12a, 13, 14a, 15a–19); the On the Neckar sketchbook (Tate D30394, D30456; Turner Bequest CCII 12a, 43a); and the Heidelberg sketchbook (Tate D35223, D35224, D35228, D35229, D35231–D35233, D35235, D35237, D35238; Turner Bequest CCCLII 4a, 5, 8, 9, 11–13, 15, 17, 18). Loose colour studies, paintings and engravings of Heidelberg in the Tate collection include D36183, D36325; Turner Bequest CCCLXVI 325, CCCLXV 34, Tate N00518 and Tate impression T05190.