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 Coburg and Veste Coburg from the South-West 1840

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Coburg and Veste Coburg from the South-West’ 1840
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 20 Verso:
Coburg and Veste Coburg from the South-West 1840
D31314
Turner Bequest CCCX 20
Pencil on cream wove paper, 126 x 198 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Finberg thought the various views here, made both ways up with the sketchbook turned horizontally, showed Schloss Rosenau,1 about four miles north-east of Coburg (see under folio 22 recto; D31318). In fact, as Cecilia Powell recognised, they show Coburg itself from the countryside south-west of the town,2 since much developed, with the prominent spire of St Moriz’s Church at its centre and the elevated fortress of Veste Coburg in parkland to its north-east.
For the numerous other Coburg views in this sketchbook, see under folio 1 verso (D31278).3
1
See Finberg 1909, II, p.997.
2
See Powell 1995, p.242.
3
See also Powell 1995, pp.72, 82 notes 63 and 64.
Technical notes:
The page appears undisturbed, but the drawing is on the verso of the leaf, despite the lack of the customary ‘a’ suffix to imply this in Finberg’s Inventory numbering.1 The otherwise blank recto is inscribed ‘20’ by John Ruskin in red ink in sequence with adjacent pages, and stamped in black ‘CCCX – 20’ at the bottom right.

Matthew Imms
September 2018

1
See Finberg 1909, II, p.997.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Coburg and Veste Coburg from the South-West 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-coburg-and-veste-coburg-from-the-south-west-r1196103, accessed 25 April 2024.