Joseph Mallord William Turner

The subject of this sketch is one of the most strikingly picturesque locations on the Simplon Pass route, the Gallery of Gondo (also sometimes known as the Grand Gallery), a tunnel built by Napoleon to facilitate the route for travellers within this part of the Alps.1 This view depicts the tunnel’s eastern entrance (on the Italian side) and the bridge built immediately beside it which spanned the small but dramatic falls of the Alpienbach (also known as the Fressinone or Frassinone). The artist has scratched out parts of the grey watercolour wash in order to depict the falling white torrents of the waterfall. For a fuller description and Turner’s numerous sketches of the Gallery of Gondo see folio 24 verso (D16933).