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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1836-47 Modern painter > Venice, Austria and Southern Germany ... > Venice; Passau to Würzburg Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Buildings in Venice, Probably on a Canal, with a Distant Tower; Buildings with a Distant Spire, Perhaps St Moriz's Church, Coburg 1840

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Buildings in Venice, Probably on a Canal, with a Distant Tower; Buildings with a Distant Spire, Perhaps St Moriz's Church, Coburg’ 1840
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 1 Recto:
Buildings in Venice, Probably on a Canal, with a Distant Tower; Buildings with a Distant Spire, Perhaps St Moriz’s Church, Coburg 1840
D31277
Turner Bequest CCCX 1
Pencil on cream wove paper, 126 x 198 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Coburg – 17 Sepr’ at right, descending vertically
Inscribed in an unknown German hand in pencil ‘alles inbegriffen Stephan’ towards right, descending vertically
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Wiss Swan’ over outline of swan bottom right, descending vertically
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘1’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCCX – 1’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner originally used this page horizontally, for a slight view of Venice, with a distant tower (presumably a campanile) beyond loosely blocked-in buildings, probably on a side canal.
As noted in the sketchbook’s Introduction, the Venice views on its early pages are intermingled with German sketches from Turner’s return journey. At the bottom left, inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, is a more forceful, rapid sketch of buildings including a distant Baroque spire, which Cecilia Powell has considered as likely to show Coburg (see under the verso, D31278);1 compare the handling on folio 2 recto (D31279). The spire may be that of St Moriz, seen in other views including D31278.
At the right, descending relative to the initial Venice view, are continuations of inscriptions by Turner and a German-speaker relating to travel arrangements between Bamberg (see under folio 19 recto; D31312) and Coburg, carried over from the front paste-down inside the cover opposite (D41399), under which these notes are discussed.
Aligned with them, Turner’s has noted ‘Wiss Swan’, with a tiny picture of the bird, evidently in relation to the Weisser Schwan hotel where he stayed in Coburg, drawing the view from it over the page (D31278). This memorandum is preceded by ‘Coburg – 17 Sepr’.2 The same date appears on folio 60 recto (D31394) and 20 September is noted as a Sunday on folio 62 recto (D31398); both pages again showing Coburg. Specific dates are unusual in Turner’s sketchbooks; see this book’s Introduction.

Matthew Imms
September 2018

1
See Powell 1995, p.242
2
See ibid., and p.71.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Buildings in Venice, Probably on a Canal, with a Distant Tower; Buildings with a Distant Spire, Perhaps St Moriz’s Church, Coburg 1840 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2018, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2019, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-buildings-in-venice-probably-on-a-canal-with-a-distant-tower-r1196067, accessed 25 April 2024.