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.

Among them are three views of the late-Baroque Kalvarienberg Church (1803–5)1 to the north, on its steep crag north-east of Zirl, about seven miles west of Innsbruck, each drawn with the sheet turned vertically; see also D33841 and D33852 (CCCXLI 155v, 161v). The others are from closer to the foot of the hill and the gorge below, and do not show include the scattered structures shown here in the foreground. The small arched feature immediately to the left of the church is a proscenium-like shrine containing a sculpture group of the Crucifixion. D33849 (CCCXLI 160) shows the west end of the church and the shrine from a higher viewpoint.

There is some white chalk highlighting on the hillsides, and around some of the features towards the bottom, along the Ehnbach stream. The recto (D33845) is a horizontal view of nearby Burg Fragenstein, under which other views in the vicinity are noted.

Technical notes:

There is some brown staining.