Joseph Mallord William Turner

Turner’s label for this drawing is inscribed ‘St Martin Pied de Mt Blanc’. Both are numbered ‘9’ by John Ruskin. The importance of St Martin and Sallanches, joined by the bridge across the River Arve, for travellers in Turner’s time, and his making ‘a number’ of drawings of the area in this sketchbook have been described by David Hill. St Martin, with its Hotel du Mont Blanc near the bridge, was a favourite overnight stop between Bonneville and Chamonix. A fine view of Mont Blanc could be had from the bridge or just below it, looking upstream along the Arve. This seems to be the subject of this drawing. Turner made a more detailed study of the view in 1836 (Huntington Library and Art Gallery, San Marino, California).

Verso:

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Inscribed by an unknown hand in pencil ‘241’