Joseph Mallord William Turner

In the 1998 Tate/Martigny catalogue the present author suggested that Turner’s label inscribed ‘Le Entrée des Premier Alps approcant de Grenoble’ [sic] might refer to this subject. However it is more likely to have belonged to D40205; Turner Bequest LXXIV K, also from this sketchbook, depicting the Isère Valley leading towards the city.

In his catalogue notes for Marlborough House, John Ruskin cited this drawing as an example of Turner’s recent transition from ‘imperfect work to that of the formed master’, adding that ‘we shall see him advance in truth and tenderness, but we cannot much in power’.1 The unidentified road is treated with classical symmetry, framed by trees.

Verso:

Blank, inscribed perhaps by a later hand in pencil ‘8’