Joseph Mallord William Turner

Rendered with fine and nimble line, these sketches depict the picturesque town of Cochem on the Moselle. Perched atop the summit of the conical mount is the ruined Reichsburg Castle, while the ancient plague chapel, dedicated to St Roch, is situated a little way down the slope close to the foot of the rock at bottom left. A small linear sketch of Cochem, left relatively undeveloped, is squared off at top right; it contains within it a tiny detail of the spire of St Martin’s Church, a striking Baroque building shown again in a later gouache and watercolour drawing of 1839 (Tate D20253; Turner Bequest CCXXI T).

For further depictions of Cochem in this sketchbook see Tate D19792–D19794, D19796; Turner Bequest CCXVI 121–122, 123. For later views, see Tate D28318–D28319, D28318–D28319, D28358–D28363, D28540–D28549; Turner Bequest CCLXXXIX 3–3a, 14a–15, CCXC 4a–7, CCXCI 2–7. See also Turner’s watercolour and gouache drawings of the town on Tate D20238, D24723, D24725, D24806, D28948, D28950, D28963, D28974, D28986, D28987, D28992, D29000, D29020; Turner Bequest CCXXI E, CCLIX 158, 160, 241, CCXCII 1, 3, 16, 27, 39, 40, 45, 51, 69.