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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Southern Germany, Austria and Venice ... > Venice up to Trento Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Distant Views of ?the Towers of Bassano del Grappa above the Brenta Valley 1833

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Distant Views of ?the Towers of Bassano del Grappa above the Brenta Valley’ 1833
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 9 Recto:
Distant Views of ?the Towers of Bassano del Grappa above the Brenta Valley 1833
D31613
Turner Bequest CCCXII 9
Pencil on white laid paper, 109 x 203 mm
Inscribed by C.F. Bell in black ink ‘9.’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCCXII – 9’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the page turned horizontally, three bands of rapid studies appear to show different aspects of the same urban skyline, with slight hints of a landscape setting. The subject is possibly Bassano del Grappa, above the Brenta Valley; see under folio 8 recto (D31611), a positively identified view within the city. As set out in the sketchbook’s Introduction, although Turner’s overall itinerary is clear from its many identified sketches, they were are not drawn in a single sequence, making those between them difficult to place, and the present subject may be elsewhere. Compare a similar study among others on the verso (D31614).

Matthew Imms
May 2019

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Distant Views of ?the Towers of Bassano del Grappa above the Brenta Valley 1833 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2019, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, March 2023, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-distant-views-of-the-towers-of-bassano-del-grappa-above-the-r1203811, accessed 25 November 2024.