Joseph Mallord William Turner

Würzburg, from the West Bank of the River Main North of the Alte Mainbrücke

1840

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Not on display

Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
Würzburg, Rhine and Ostend Sketchbook
Medium
Graphite on paper
Dimensions
Support: 104 × 170 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D30624
Turner Bequest CCCIII 85

Catalogue entry

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).

Matthew Imms
September 2018

1
See Powell 1995, p.244.

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