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 Eastern Walls of Augsburg, with the Jakoberwallturm, the Vogeltor and the Church of SS. Ulrich and Afra in the Distance 1833

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Eastern Walls of Augsburg, with the Jakoberwallturm, the Vogeltor and the Church of SS. Ulrich and Afra in the Distance’ 1833
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 5 Recto:
The Eastern Walls of Augsburg, with the Jakoberwallturm, the Vogeltor and the Church of SS. Ulrich and Afra in the Distance 1833
D32550
Turner Bequest CCCXXII 6
Pencil on white laid paper, 105 x 170 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘6’ bottom left, descending vertically (smudged and faint)
Stamped in black ‘CCCXXII – 6’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The view is along the southern perimeter of Augsburg’s eastern Jakobervorstadt district. The substantial tower to the right of centre is the Jakoberwallturm, overlooking the bastion at a turn of the city’s moat; it is now obscured by trees from this angle. The main tower shown shaded beyond is the Vogeltor, to the west-south-west along the Vogelmauer. It is shown in detail on the verso (D32551), but the walls and turret in between do not survive.
Further off to the south-west, towards the southern end of the city, is the soaring tower of SS. Ulrich and Afra’s Church, with its onion dome; it in turn is the subject on folios 6 verso and 7 recto (D32553–D32554; CCCXXII 7a, 8). There seems to be a separate detail at the bottom left, possibly continuing northwards from the right of the main view towards the Jakobertor gateway and its bridge (see folio 4 verso opposite; D32549; CCCXXII 5a).
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.
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 Eastern Walls of Augsburg, with the Jakoberwallturm, the Vogeltor and the Church of SS. Ulrich and Afra 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-eastern-walls-of-augsburg-with-the-jakoberwallturm-the-r1204016, accessed 22 July 2024.