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 ... > Zirl and the Alps near Innsbruck; ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Buildings in an Alpine Mountain Valley ?near Innsbruck 1833

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Buildings in an Alpine Mountain Valley ?near Innsbruck’ 1833
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Buildings in an Alpine Mountain Valley ?near Innsbruck 1833
D33844
Turner Bequest CCCXLI 157v
Chalk and pencil on grey wove paper, 190 x 148 mm
Inscribed in pencil ‘157’ top left, descending vertically, and ‘233 | O’ bottom left, descending vertically
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
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.
This view was drawn vertically, with scattered buildings towards the foreground and a succession of rugged peaks on the skyline. The white chalk work may include indications of water at the bottom centre. The recto (D33843) is a horizontal view of Burg Fragenstein, at Zirl; the present subject may have been recorded in the vicinity.
Technical notes:
There is some brown staining.

Matthew Imms
May 2019

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Buildings in an Alpine Mountain Valley ?near Innsbruck 1833 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2019, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, April 2023, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-buildings-in-an-alpine-mountain-valley-near-innsbruck-r1204274, accessed 20 May 2024.