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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Italy c.1828-43 > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner An ?Italian Fort in a Wooded Valley c.1828-43

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘An ?Italian Fort in a Wooded Valley’ c.1828-43
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
An ?Italian Fort in a Wooded Valley c.1828–43
D24994
Turner Bequest CCLXI 22
Pencil on blue wove paper, 139 x 178 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘[?Mont L...llo]’ bottom left
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom right
Inscribed in red ink ‘22’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCLXI – 22’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The drawing appears to focus on a square building, perhaps a fort, below wooded rocks in the middle distance, with smaller structures or objects in the foreground. The inscription here, difficult to decipher as it is, suggests an Italian (or possibly Swiss) scene; while at time of writing a few sheets from Finberg’s 1909 Turner Bequest section CCLXI have been identified as French, Finberg noted: ‘Some of the subjects are French, others may belong to North Italy, &c.’1
1
Finberg 1909, II, p.813.
Verso:
Blank; inscribed by ?John Ruskin in pencil ‘231 | O’ bottom right; inscribed in pencil ‘D24994’ top left, upside down. Finberg noted of Turner Bequest section CCLXI: ‘Most of the sketches were in a bundle labelled by Mr. Ruskin – “0,231. Chalk scrawls on grey. Rubbish.”’1
There is a border of white paper or tape, indicating that the sheet was formerly mounted.

Matthew Imms
February 2016

1
Ibid.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘An ?Italian Fort in a Wooded Valley c.1828–43 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, February 2016, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2016, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-an-italian-fort-in-a-wooded-valley-r1182959, accessed 24 April 2024.