Joseph Mallord William Turner

The drawings between folios 74 recto and 79 recto (D30600–D30610; Turner Bequest CCCIII 73–78), all made with the pages turned horizontally, are distant views of Würzburg, looking south from along the sweeping north-westerly bend of the River Main, where the Steinberg and sloping vineyards still provide similar vantage points.

Here, as Cecilia Powell has noted,1 the panoramic subject is in two parts, labelled ‘1’ and ‘2’ by the artist. The main view shows the slender Pleichertor with city centre spires beyond on the east bank, the Alte Mainbrücke, and the Marienberg fortress rising to their west, with the twin spires of the Schottenkirche on the near side. Above to the left, the view is continued to the western end of the Marienberg, again with the river in the foreground. As Powell has noted, Turner’s ‘River in front’ at the top centre is a note to the similar drawing on folio 79 recto opposite (D30610; CCCIII 78).

For the extensive sequence of Würzburg views in this sketchbook and others elsewhere, see under folio 72 verso (D30596; CCCIII 71).