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

There are three related sketches, made vertically both ways up from the northern outskirts of Trento. At the top, seen to the south across the former course of the River Adige (Etsch), are the campanile of Santa Maria Maggiore (not far north-west of the cathedral) and the Torre Vanga, above the old wooden bridge depicted in engravings; see under folio 42 recto (D31679), a view from downstream back in this direction. Although later developments and the redirection of the river make it uncertain, the present sketch is perhaps a direct continuation from the right of the wider horizontal prospect down over the valley to the city on the recto (D31671); compare also a view from the north-east on folio 40 verso (D31676).

The view overleaf includes the Castello di Buonconsiglio and the slender, spire-like roof of the Torre Verde in the foreground, and the slight inverted sketch at the bottom of the present page forms a schematic reprise of that view, extended to bring in the Torre Vanga and the bridge at the right.

The central study on this page shows the massive medieval stonework at the north end of the castle, with the cylindrical Torre d’Augusto, seen from the nearby Via della Pontara. The same part of the complex is seen as part of a view from lower down on folio 39 recto opposite (D31673). For other views of Trento in this sketchbook and its place in Turner’s itinerary, see under folio 37 recto (D31669).