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 ... > Rotterdam and Rhine sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Fünfgratturm and Eastern Walls of Augsburg, with the Jakobertor in the Distance 1833

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Fünfgratturm and Eastern Walls of Augsburg, with the Jakobertor in the Distance’ 1833
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 4 Recto:
The Fünfgratturm and Eastern Walls of Augsburg, with the Jakobertor in the Distance 1833
D32548
Turner Bequest CCCXXII 5
Pencil on white laid paper, 105 x 170 mm
Partial watermark: front legs and head of rearing unicorn
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘5’ bottom left, descending vertically (smudged and faint)
Stamped in black ‘CCCXXII – 5’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The view is south-south-eastwards along the outer perimeter of Augsburg’s eastern Jakobervorstadt district. Overlooking the city’s moat in the foreground is the distinctive profile of the medieval Fünfgratturm (or Fünffingerlesturm) watchtower; its steep central spire flanked by corner turrets form the five points referenced in its variant names.1 In the distance is the Jakobertor, seen again in the complementary view on the verso (D32549).
The walls and towers in between along Untere-Jakobermauer do not survive, and trees now line both banks of this section. The structure to the left of the Jakobertor is likely the lost ‘obere’ (upper) Sankt-Jakobs-Wasserturm, seen more clearly on the verso, where it is discussed further; the similar ‘untere’ (lower) tower still stands behind the viewpoint of the present sketch, and is shown on folio 3 verso opposite (D32547; CCCXXII 4a).
This is one of a sequence between folios 2 recto and 6 recto (D32544–D32552; CCCXXII 3–7) comprising a clockwise survey of the Jakobervorstadt’s walls, with their picturesque towers and gatehouses; see under the view of Augsburg’s cathedral on folio 1 verso (D32543; CCCXXII 2a) for other views in and around the city from this tour.
1
See ‘Fünfgratturm’, Augsburgwiki, accessed 16 September 2019, https://www.augsburgwiki.de/index.php/AugsburgWiki/Fuenfgratturm.
Technical notes:
The pale brown staining at the centre of the outer edge is owing to the leaf’s proximity to the leather pencil loop anchored under the front paste-down (D32541; CCCXXII 1).

Matthew Imms
November 2019

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘The Fünfgratturm and Eastern Walls of Augsburg, with the Jakobertor in the Distance 1833 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, November 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-the-funfgratturm-and-eastern-walls-of-augsburg-with-the-r1204014, accessed 22 July 2024.