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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Northern Italy or Switzerland c.1828-44 > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner ?Northern Italian or Swiss Mountains c.1840-4

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘?Northern Italian or Swiss Mountains’ c.1840-4
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
?Northern Italian or Swiss Mountains c.1840–4
D34625
Turner Bequest CCCXLIV 213
Pencil on white wove paper, 153 x 95 mm
Partial watermark ‘atman | 837’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘[?Mi...]’ above right of centre
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram off centre
Inscribed in red ink ‘213’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCCXLIV 213’ bottom left, descending vertically
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
These mountainous subjects, drawn with the sheet turned both ways, are unidentified, but may be in the north of Italy or neighbouring Switzerland; see the Introduction to this section for further brief discussion and dating. Turner’s brief inscription may relate to a tower or spire above the centre, and there appears to be a substantial bridge in the inverted view at the bottom. The full watermark would evidently have been ‘J Whatman | 1837’, matching the ‘J Wh | 1’ on another sheet in this section (Tate D34602; Turner Bequest CCCXLIV 200), and precluding a date before Turner’s being in the region in 1840.
There are other mountain views on the verso (D34626; Turner Bequest CCCXLIV 213v).
Finberg noted: ‘(Nos. [Turner Bequest CCCXLIV] 174–226 were among the contents of a parcel endorsed by Mr. [John] Ruskin, – “B. 2. Forty-eight pieces of paper, some double or 4-ple. Pencil outline, same class as B. 1.”).’1

Matthew Imms
February 2016

1
Finberg 1909, II, p.1123.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘?Northern Italian or Swiss Mountains c.1840–4 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, February 2016, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2016, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-northern-italian-or-swiss-mountains-r1183072, accessed 26 April 2024.