J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Southern Germany, Austria and Venice ... > Venice up to Trento Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Bridge in an Alpine Mountain Valley, with a Town or Monastery with a Baroque Spire Beyond 1833

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Bridge in an Alpine Mountain Valley, with a Town or Monastery with a Baroque Spire Beyond’ 1833
Folio 34 Verso:
A Bridge in an Alpine Mountain Valley, with a Town or Monastery with a Baroque Spire Beyond 1833
D31664
Turner Bequest CCCXII 34a
Pencil on white laid paper, 109 x 203 mm
Partial watermark ‘C G’ (countermark)
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The drawing was made with the page turned horizontally. There appears to be a shallow bridge in the foreground, leading to other buildings, perhaps a monastery complex centred on a Baroque church, or a village or small town featuring two pairs of onion domes.
Over half of the pages in this book comprise relatively slight sketches from Turner’s homeward route north through the valleys of the Alps via Trento, Bolzano (Bozen) and Innsbruck. As set out in the Introduction, although his overall itinerary is clear from many identified subjects, they were are not drawn in a single sequence, making the rugged scenes between them difficult to place.

Matthew Imms
May 2019

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘A Bridge in an Alpine Mountain Valley, with a Town or Monastery with a Baroque Spire Beyond 1833’, catalogue entry, May 2019, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, March 2023, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/a-bridge-in-an-alpine-mountain-valley-with-a-town-or-monastery-with-a-baroque-spire-beyond-r1203862, accessed 15 May 2025.