Joseph Mallord William Turner

The drawing was made with the page turned horizontally. As identified by Cecilia Powell,1 it shows the Erpeler Ley, a towering basalt rock on the east bank of the Rhine, looking north-west down the river. See also the recto (D30516); the adjacent town of Erpel is shown on folio 29 recto (D30512; Turner Bequest CCCIII 28), under which earlier drawings are noted.

Powell has noted that Turner neared the end of this tour following ‘the familiar route of the Rhine between Mainz and Cologne. He almost certainly travelled by steamer, ... sketching most of the well-known sights perfunctorily as he passed.’2 Given that this sketchbook was used in reverse of its subsequent foliation, she has specified the overall range of this phase as ‘TB CCCIII 68v–20v; 11r’,3 indicating folios 12 recto and 21 verso–69 verso (D30479, D30497–D30592; Turner Bequest CCCIII 20a–68a); see this book’s Introduction for the full itinerary of this part of the journey.