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 Views of the Valsugana around Primolano 1833

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Views of the Valsugana around Primolano’ 1833
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 15 Recto:
Views of the Valsugana around Primolano 1833
D31625
Turner Bequest CCCXII 15
Pencil on white laid paper, 109 x 203 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Scala’ towards top centre, and ‘12’ towards bottom right
Inscribed by C.F. Bell in black ink ‘15.’ Top right, ascending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCCXII – 15’ top right, ascending 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 the adjacent folios 14 verso and 15 verso–16 verso (D31624, D31626–D31628): ‘near Primolano, Val Sugana’.1
Drawn with the page turned horizontally, there are two views side by side, divided by vertical pencil lines. They are among sketches between folios 13 verso and 16 verso (D31622–D31628), overlooking Primolano and its surroundings in a narrow, rugged part of the Valsugana section of the Brenta Valley; see also folio 21 recto (D31637). The viewpoints were likely along the series of hairpin bends known as the ‘Scala’ (as noted here by Turner) or ‘Scale’ leading down to the town from the north-east.
On the right, the prospect is westward up the valley, with the stepped profile of the cliff west-north-west of the town on the right, as seen on folio 14 verso opposite (D31625). The left-hand sketch is harder to place immediately, and may show the view up the hillside road, since softened by trees.

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, ‘Views of the Valsugana around 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-views-of-the-valsugana-around-primolano-r1203823, accessed 05 July 2024.