Joseph Mallord William Turner

Turner used this page for two separate subjects, turning it vertically both ways relative to the sketchbook’s foliation. As Cecilia Powell has noted, the smaller subject, incorrectly identified by Finberg as Schloss Rosenau (see under folio 22 recto; D31318),1 is the medieval Schloss Callenberg, which stands on a wooded hill in countryside south of Biersdorf, about three miles north-west of Coburg, and is viewed here from the east,2 with its domed tower on the right. It is seen again on folio 62 recto (D31398).

The other way up, the larger drawing shows the west front and unequal towers of St Moriz’s Church, Coburg, looking along Neugasse (where some of the gabled buildings remain recognisable), again as identified by Powell.3 The church is seen again most prominently on folio 5 verso (D31286).

As noted in the sketchbook’s Introduction, the German views are intermingled on most of its early pages with earlier Venice subjects; the present page is one of the few in the sequence left blank at that previous stage. For the numerous Coburg views in this sketchbook, see under folio 1 verso (D31278).4