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

There are three sketches here, made with the vertical page turned both ways. Inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, the most prominent subject shows what is likely a town with bridges in the foreground, indistinct buildings beyond trees and a slender church tower with a Baroque spire in the distance. It is unclear whether the looser forms to the left are architectural or related to shipping.

The other views, upside-down in relation to each other, are successive prospects of Schloss Johannisberg, on the slopes of the River Rhine’s north bank. Compare the similar profile labelled as such by the artist on folio 15 verso (D32571; CCCXXII 16a), under which the castle’s immediate context is noted; see also folio 60 recto (D32657; CCCXXII 61), under which views from earlier on the 1833 tour and other occasions are noted. The view at the top here (as foliated) is continued a little onto folio 15 recto opposite (D32570; CCCXXII 16), where the various unidentified subjects do not appear immediately related.

As set out in its Introduction, this sketchbook covers Turner’s homeward route from Augsburg north-westwards to Rotterdam (see under folios 1 verso and 14 recto respectively; D32543, D32568; CCCXXII 2a, 15). Travelling back down the familiar river, he worked in somewhat randomly from both ends, interspersing identifiable subjects with less distinctive renderings of towns, castles and the landscape.