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

The subject of this drawing, made with the page turned horizontally, was first identified by Cecilia Powell.1 On the left is the Thurn and Taxis Palace (sometimes referred to as Schloss St Emmeram, its former dedication as an abbey), south of the centre of Regensburg. The north-eastern corner is shown, with its diagonally projecting Baroque pavilion. In the distance to the north is the tower of the Obermünster abbey. Trees are indicated in the right foreground, and remain plentiful in the gardens around the palace today, obscuring the view beyond along with later buildings.

Turner began a sunlit watercolour of the subject (private collection)2 based largely on this drawing, as Ian Warrell recognised.3 Its loosely finished foreground apparently showing a ditch or moat with a bridge and small building on the right, although these elements are not readily evident in the present drawing, and it is unclear how they relate to the site at the time; the foreground is now level, with paths and lawns. Oddly, and presumably fortuitously, the arrangement bears a passing resemblance to a small sketch of a garden building and bridge in the grounds of Schloss Rosenau, near Coburg, from later on this tour (folio 8 recto; D31291).

For numerous contemporary views of Regensburg in this sketchbook and elsewhere, see under folio 18 verso (D31311).4 The watercolour of the palace was one of a small group of Regensburg subjects developed from the pencil sketches in the present book, as discussed in its Introduction.