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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1836-47 Modern painter > Tour to the Alps 1836 > Fort Bard Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Tower above Villeneuve, Looking down the Val d'Aosta to the Château d'Argent and the Castle of St Pierre 1836

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Tower above Villeneuve, Looking down the Val d'Aosta to the Château d'Argent and the Castle of St Pierre’ 1836
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 88 Recto:
A Tower above Villeneuve, Looking down the Val d’Aosta to the Château d’Argent and the Castle of St Pierre 1836
D29372
Turner Bequest CCXCIV 87
Pencil on white wove paper, 104 x 148 mm
Inscribed, possibly by John Ruskin, in blue ink ‘87’ top left, running vertically, and with the Turner Bequest schedule number ‘357’ top right, running vertically
Stamped in brown ‘CCXCIV 87’ top right, running vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Here, Turner looks over a round tower down the Val d’Aosta towards Villeneuve, the Château d’Argent and Mont Emilius above right, the spire of the old church at Villeneuve at centre, and the Castle of St Pierre in the jaws of the valley. The tower (perhaps Roman) has now disappeared save for foundations visible on the lower of two terraced mounds by the middle school at Villeneuve. Turner’s view is now obscured by power lines and a row of trees. Although this sketch is somewhat rushed, Turner seems to have taken a particular interest in the tower for it appears elsewhere in this sketchbook (D29364 and D29373; Turner Bequest CCXCIV 83, 88).
Verso:
Blank

David Hill
June 2010

How to cite

David Hill, ‘A Tower above Villeneuve, Looking down the Val d’Aosta to the Château d’Argent and the Castle of St Pierre 1836 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, June 2010, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, February 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-a-tower-above-villeneuve-looking-down-the-val-daosta-to-the-r1144922, accessed 19 April 2024.