Joseph Mallord William Turner

With the page turned horizontally, the view is down the Main from the West Bank north of Würzburg’s Alte Mainbrücke, with the northern end of the city seen to the north-east across the busy scene river to the right,1 dominated by the Baroque spire of the Marienkapelle (topped by a gilded statue of the Madonna and later rebuilt in the Gothic Revival style).

On the left are the outer riverside defences of the Marienberg fortress complex, which now stand in reduced from between Dreikronenstrasse and a tree-lined riverside walk. The projecting bastion and turret in the middle distance survive; on their near side is a heavily articulated Baroque gateway which is not readily identifiable.

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