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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Northern Germany, the Elbe and Prague ... > Dresden, Teplitz and Prague Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Prague: The Castle and Cathedral (its Spire Continued in the Sky) from the North-East with the Vista up the Moat and across to the Castle Garden (also Continued in the Sky) 1835

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Prague: The Castle and Cathedral (its Spire Continued in the Sky) from the North-East with the Vista up the Moat and across to the Castle Garden (also Continued in the Sky)’ 1835
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 27 Recto:
Prague: The Castle and Cathedral (its Spire Continued in the Sky) from the North-East with the Vista up the Moat and across to the Castle Garden (also Continued in the Sky) 1835
D30348
Turner Bequest CCCI 27
Pencil on cream wove paper, 100 x 159 mm
Partial Watermark ‘af’
Inscribed in red ink by Ruskin ‘27’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCCI – 27’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This is a view of Prague, taken from a north-easterly vantage point. Turner pictures the Castle, ancient seat of Bohemian Kings and Holy Roman Emperors, and the imperial cathedral dedicated to St Vitus. The Castle and Cathedral are located in the elevated Hradcany district of the city, and Turner’s view shows a little of the steep incline leading up to the imperial complex. The artist has also suggested some of the formal gardens laid out around the northern face of the moat; a detail of part of the garden is rendered at top right.
This sketch is one part of a panoramic survey of the city rendered across three pages (see Tate D30346–D30347; Turner Bequest CCCI 26–26a).

Alice Rylance-Watson
September 2015

How to cite

Alice Rylance-Watson, ‘Prague: The Castle and Cathedral (its Spire Continued in the Sky) from the North-East with the Vista up the Moat and across to the Castle Garden (also Continued in the Sky) 1835 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2015, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, August 2017, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-prague-the-castle-and-cathedral-its-spire-continued-in-the-r1186732, accessed 25 April 2024.