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

The page was used both ways for two separate subjects. Turned horizontally, the right-hand two thirds show substantial fortifications with an approach across a bridge over a tree-lined gorge. This is possibly the Lueginsland bastion at the northern corner of the old medieval walls of Augsburg, which only survive intermittently and in modified form; the features on the right seem to correspond with those now seen to the east across the park along Thommstrasse. There is a confirmed view in the city on folio 30 recto opposite (D31655), under which others are noted.

To the left, separated by a pencil line, is a less detailed drawing of mountains, inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, with unidentified features in the foreground. The scene continues to the left across folio 30 recto opposite (D31655), where the valley, with a building or two in the foreground, leads to what may be a castle in the distance. 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 architectural subjects and rugged scenes between them difficult to place.