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 Fortifications above the Valsugana near Primolano 1833

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Fortifications above the Valsugana near Primolano’ 1833
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 14 Recto:
Fortifications above the Valsugana near Primolano 1833
D31623
Turner Bequest CCCXII 14
Pencil on white laid paper, 109 x 203 mm
Inscribed by C.F. Bell in black ink ‘14.’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCCXII – 14’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Annotating a copy of his 1909 Inventory, Finberg later suggested the settings of folios 10 recto–14 recto (D31615–D31623): ‘10–14. Prbly Val Sugana. Between Bassano & Primolano’.1 There is a view of Bassano del Grappa on folio 8 recto (D31611).
Drawn with the page turned horizontally, the view includes fortifications on the steep hillside above Primolano, looking south over a narrow, rugged part of the Valsugana section of the Brenta Valley; the town is seen from high viewpoints on folio 13 verso opposite, and on other pages up to folio verso (D31622, D31624–D31628); see also folio 21 recto (D31637). The same structures are seen from lower down, likely along the series of hairpin bends known as the ‘Scala’ or ‘Scale’, on the left of a wider view including the town on folio 15 verso (D31626).

Matthew Imms
May 2019

1
Undated MS note by Finberg (died 1939) in interleaved copy of Finberg 1909, Prints and Drawings Room, Tate Britain, II, opposite p.1005.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Fortifications above the Valsugana near Primolano 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-fortifications-above-the-valsugana-near-primolano-r1203821, accessed 05 July 2024.