Joseph Mallord William Turner

This sketch shows Trarbach as it appeared to Turner on his walk up to the Grevenburg and thus shows the opposite view to that depicted on Tate D28392, D28394; Turner Bequest CCXC 21a, 22a and their respective gouaches (Tate D20275, D20240; Turner Bequest CCXXII P, CCXXI G). Turner shows Trarbach ‘surrounded by a strong wall, still further strengthened by several towers’: observations made by the writer and traveller Michael Joseph Quin. ‘There are three gates’, describes Quin, all ‘in good preservation, surmounted also by towers, which add much to the chivalrous aspect of the place’.1 In the distance, the ‘handsome old church and tapering steeple’ of the Church of St Nicholas can be seen. This view formed the basis of the gouache and watercolour drawing Trarbach from the Grevenburg (Tate D20259; Turner Bequest CCXXI Z).

To the left of the principal sketch are parts of two slight drawings of Traben-Trarbach and the Grevenburg which have been continued from the folio opposite (Tate D28401; Turner Bequest CCXC 26).