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 > Passage of the Simplon Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner ?Val Divedro 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘?Val Divedro’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 38 Recto:
?Val Divedro 1819
D16958
Turner Bequest CXCIV 38
Pencil and grey watercolour wash on white wove paper, 121 x 195 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘38’ bottom left, descending left-hand edge
Stamped in black ‘CXCIV 38’ bottom left, descending left-hand edge
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The faint pencil details and the dark, uneven grey watercolour wash makes this sketch difficult to identify, although it appears to depict a road running alongside a stream or river within a steep mountainous valley. Visible near the central foreground is a house or other building. The location is likely to be the Val Divedro (Valley of Divedro), which lies between Gondo and Crevoladossola near the Swiss/Italian border. Turner travelled through the valley on the Simplon Road during his expedition to and from the Simplon Pass. For a fuller discussion see the introduction to the sketchbook.

Nicola Moorby
May 2011

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘?Val Divedro 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2011, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-val-divedro-r1132833, accessed 23 September 2024.