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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Northern Italy or Switzerland c.1828-44 > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Houses and a Spire among ?Northern Italian or Swiss Mountains c.1828-44

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Houses and a Spire among ?Northern Italian or Swiss Mountains’ c.1828-44
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Houses and a Spire among ?Northern Italian or Swiss Mountains c.1828–44
D34562
Turner Bequest CCCXLIV 179
Pencil and ink on white wove paper, 152 x 95 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘[...]’ centre right
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram at centre
Inscribed in red ink ‘179’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCCXLIV 179’ bottom left, descending vertically
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This mountainous subject, occupying the upper half of a vertical sheet, is unidentified, but may be in the north of Italy or neighbouring Switzerland; see the Introduction to this section for further brief discussion and dating. The initial pencil work has been roughly reinforced with ink outlines.
There is a possibly fortuitous similarity with the juxtaposition of buildings and mountain forms in a watercolour study of 1836, Mont Blanc and Le Chetif looking over Pre St Didier in the Val d'Aosta (Tate D35971; Turner Bequest CCCLXIV 128).
Finberg noted: ‘(Nos. [Turner Bequest CCCXLIV] 174–226 were among the contents of a parcel endorsed by Mr. [John] Ruskin, – “B. 2. Forty-eight pieces of paper, some double or 4-ple. Pencil outline, same class as B. 1.”).’1
1
Finberg 1909, II, p.1123.
Verso:
Blank

Matthew Imms
February 2016

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Houses and a Spire among ?Northern Italian or Swiss Mountains c.1828–44 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-houses-and-a-spire-among-northern-italian-or-swiss-mountains-r1183049, accessed 25 April 2024.