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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Northern Germany, the Elbe and Prague ... > Dresden, Teplitz and Prague Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Sketches of Scenery and Buildings ?at Laun 1835

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Sketches of Scenery and Buildings ?at Laun’ 1835
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 23 Verso:
Sketches of Scenery and Buildings ?at Laun 1835
D30341
Turner Bequest CCCI 23 a
Pencil on cream wove paper, 159 x 100 mm
Partial Watermark ‘cf’
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘Rod[...]’ top right, ‘[...]’ bottom centre, ‘Wie[...]’ bottom right (inverted)
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
These rough sketches, depicting hilly landscapes and a townscape, were produced with the sketchbook turned upside down, with the exception of the view inscribed ‘Wie[...]’. The uneven handling indicates that they were taken on the move, as Turner travelled by carriage from Teplitz to Prague. The central view may be of Laun (now Louny in the Czech Republic), a town fortified by a network of medieval towers and gatehouses (see Tate D30340; Turner Bequest CCCI 23).

Alice Rylance-Watson
September 2015

How to cite

Alice Rylance-Watson, ‘Sketches of Scenery and Buildings ?at Laun 1835 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2015, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, August 2017, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-sketches-of-scenery-and-buildings-at-laun-r1186725, accessed 26 October 2025.