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

This is one of twenty-eight sketches of mountain scenes (some including castles and other buildings) on the rectos and versos of sixteen pieces of grey paper torn carefully from a single sheet; they were likely all made in the vicinity of Innsbruck within a short period around 23 September 1833, when Turner was travelling back from Venice towards the end of his tour, as discussed in the Introduction to the present subsection.

The rugged mountain valley scene is annotated with notes of colour and light effects, both in the sky and scattered illegibly across the landscape. White chalk has been used in the sky, on the peaks and within the landscape, with the marks at the bottom right likely reflections in a lake or river from what seems to be a waxing gibbous moon, low on the right, as shown in several similar sketches; for the others and how the moon’s phase fits with the late September date, see under D33697 (CCCXLI 18v), perhaps drawn on the same occasion.

The recto is D33856 (CCCXLI 165), where the subject is inverted relative to this one, and shows comparable scenery near Zirl, west of Innsbruck, in common with numerous other sketches in this grouping.

Technical notes:

There is slight brown staining, and a pale, steeply diagonal line at the top left, apparently indicating a former crease, with a corresponding mark on the recto (D33856).