Joseph Mallord William Turner

For Entreves and the Allée Blanche, near Courmayeur, see folios 65 and 65 verso of this sketchbook (D04465, D04466). Here, Turner is positioned on the slopes of the Val Ferret looking towards Entreves and past the head of the Val d’Aosta to the Brenva glacier with the Aiguille Noire above and Mont Blanc to the right. This drawing, made with the sketchbook inverted and extending across folio 67 (D04469), and a similar double page spread on folios 67 verso–68 (D04470–D04471) annotated with the initial ‘F’ served as the basis of the finished watercolour made about 1810 (Courtauld Galleries, London)1 and perhaps another (untraced).2 The initial would suggest that the patron was Walter Fawkes but David Hill proposes instead that it could have been Sir William Pilkington of Chevet Hall, near Wakefield.3 It is in fact unclear whether Turner made one or two watercolours of this composition since two, of slightly different sizes, are recorded as having been in the Dillon collection.