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

This page was initially used horizontally. The upper (outer) half shows a view to the east up the River Rhine, with buildings in Rüdesheim loosely indicated on the north bank. In the foreground are the low keep of the Brömserburg (now a wine museum), and the square tower of the neighbouring Boosenburg (since restored and incorporated into a Victorian mansion), with what appear to be the spire of St Jakobus’s Church and the riverside Adlerturm beyond. There is a view past the town from the opposite direction and studies of its castles on folio 11 verso opposite (D32563; CCCXXII 12a), under which other Rüdesheim sketches, an earlier watercolour and nearby subjects are noted.

On the right, framed by pencil lines with the page turned vertically and inverted relative to the foliation, is another swiftly executed sketch, showing a city. Judging from Turner’s note, the composition shows Arnhem (‘Arnheim’ in its German form, as apparently inscribed). He drew the Dutch city on the Rhine’s Nederrijn distributary from the west, likely with the spire of St Eusebius’s Church beyond the waterfront. In the foreground are a number of barges and perhaps reeds on the river. The view is continued half-way across the opposite page (overlapping with the Bingen drawings), where the low sun and its reflection are shown. This is in accord with sketches around the city inside the front cover (D32541; CCCXXII 1), where the morning sun is both drawn and noted; see also folio 1 recto (D32542; CCCXXII 2). The subject and other views are discussed under D32541.

As set out in its Introduction, this sketchbook covers Turner’s homeward route from Augsburg north-westwards to Rotterdam (see under folios 1 verso and 14 recto respectively; D32543, D32568; CCCXXII 2a, 15). Travelling back down the familiar river, he worked in somewhat randomly from both ends, interspersing identifiable subjects with less distinctive renderings of towns, castles and the landscape.