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 ... > Prague, Nuremberg, Frankfurt and Rhine ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Prague: View up the Vltava to the Old Town Bridge Tower, Charles Bridge, Petrín Hill and Hradcany (in Three Instalments) 1835

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Prague: View up the Vltava to the Old Town Bridge Tower, Charles Bridge, Petrín Hill and Hradcany (in Three Instalments)’ 1835
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 69 Recto:
Prague: View up the Vltava to the Old Town Bridge Tower, Charles Bridge, Petrín Hill and Hradcany (in Three Instalments) 1835
D30761
Turner Bequest CCCIV 69
Pencil on cream laid paper, 118 x 190 mm
Watermark with the Lion of the Seven Provinces
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘9’ bottom left; ‘[...] [...]’ centre left
Inscribed in red ink by Ruskin ‘69’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCCIV–69’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This view of Prague is rendered in three instalments to produce one wide-angled prospect. The view starts at the central instalment, showing Charles Bridge and the gothic Bridge Tower that is the entrance to Prague’s Old Town. Turner’s view continues with the rear section, depicting the foot of Charles Bridge and the buildings of the Little Quarter which slope up towards Hradcany and Prague Castle. To the left of the Hradcany is Petrín Hill; Turner has suggested its crenelated ‘Hunger Wall’, a medieval defensive wall built to fortify the imperial Castle, with a jagged line. The top section is a continuation of the Prague Castle complex in the Hradcany district.
‘9’ has been inscribed at bottom left for the number of arches on Charles Bridge; an illegible inscription can also be seen at centre left.
Turner produced several sketches of Prague on the 1835 tour; For other drawings in this sketchbook see Tate D30759–30761, D30764–D30765, D30767, D30771–D30773, D30775–D30777, D30779–D30783, D30788–D30790, D30792–D30803, D30805, D30807–D30811, D30813–D30820; Turner Bequest CCCIV 68–69, 70a–71, 72, 74–75, 76–77, 78–80, 82a–84, 85–91, 92, 93–96, 97–102. See also the Dresden, Tepliz and Prague sketchbook (Tate D30344–D30361, D30364–D30366; Turner Bequest CCCI 25–33a, 36–37).

Alice Rylance-Watson
December 2015

How to cite

Alice Rylance-Watson, ‘Prague: View up the Vltava to the Old Town Bridge Tower, Charles Bridge, Petrín Hill and Hradcany (in Three Instalments) 1835 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, December 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-view-up-the-vltava-to-the-old-town-bridge-tower-r1187136, accessed 25 April 2024.