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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > First Italian Tour 1819-20 > Paris, France, Savoy 2 Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Two Sketches of the Mont Cenis Pass; and Figure Studies 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Two Sketches of the Mont Cenis Pass; and Figure Studies’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 89 Verso:
Two Sketches of the Mont Cenis Pass; and Figure Studies 1819
D14143
Turner Bequest CLXXIII 89 a
Pencil on white wove paper, 114 x 185 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘Mt Cenis’ bottom left of left-hand sketch and ‘Mt Cenis’ top right of third sketch from the left. Also various colour notes on costume (see main entry)
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This page contains two rough views of mountainous landscape which Turner has labelled ‘Mt Cenis’ suggesting that they represent scenes from the pass of Mont Cenis (see the Introduction to the sketchbook). The sheet also contains a sequence of inscriptions and small sketches concerning figures and costume. The largest and most prominent drawing depicts a man wearing a pointed hat and a long coat with buttons and Turner has annotated a study of his sleeve with notes on colour: ‘Red Yellow Blue’. Further thumbnail sketches of hats and other items of clothing can be found on the far right-hand side of the page. Some of the related writing is indecipherable but the transcription reads as follows: ‘[?Sand G] [sketch] [...] G[...] [sketch] White Horse | Soldat White with red collar Black cap and red | White cap’.

Nicola Moorby
March 2013

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Two Sketches of the Mont Cenis Pass; and Figure Studies 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, March 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, August 2013, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-two-sketches-of-the-mont-cenis-pass-and-figure-studies-r1143002, accessed 23 August 2025.