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

This very rough sketch of a mountainous landscape is tentatively identified as a view of the Chartreuse Mountains near the village of Les Échelles in Savoy. Finberg suggested that the view depicted was the lake of Mont Cenis or the Gorge de Chailles in Savoy.1 However, similar drawings can be found on folios 31–32 and 33 (D16699–D16701 and D16702; Turner Bequest CXCII 30–31 and 32) and the current identification is proposed on the basis of inscriptions on folios 31 verso and 33 (D16700 and D16702; Turner Bequest CXCII 30a and 32). The road ascending the steep cliffs on the left may represent the entrance to the Voie Sarde (Sardinian Way), see the Paris, France, Savoy 2 sketchbook (Tate D14106; Turner Bequest CLXXIII 70).