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 The Altes Rathaus, Bamberg, from the Crane by the River Regnitz, with the Spires of the Cathedral Beyond 1840

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Altes Rathaus, Bamberg, from the Crane by the River Regnitz, with the Spires of the Cathedral Beyond’ 1840
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 46 Recto:
The Altes Rathaus, Bamberg, from the Crane by the River Regnitz, with the Spires of the Cathedral Beyond 1840
D31366
Turner Bequest CCCX 46
Pencil on cream wove paper, 126 x 198 mm
Partial watermark ‘J. Wh’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Krahn’ bottom right
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘46’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCCX – 46’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The drawing was made with the page turned horizontally. As Cecilia Powell has noted,1 the view shows Bamberg’s Altes Rathaus to the south towards the left, set between bridges over the River Regnitz, with the dome of the Geyerswörth palace beyond to the left. In the distance on the right, are the four spires of the cathedral to the east; only their tips now remain visible above a later riverside building.
The foreground shows the Am Kranen quayside, with the swivelling crane (labelled ‘Krahn’) from which it takes its name, beneath its shallow pointed roof. There appear to be various goods in the foreground, with the masts of boats moored alongside indicated at the centre. A crane still stands here on a broad stone plinth, beneath a plainer, parasol-like covering.
For numerous other Bamberg views in this sketchbook, see under folio 19 recto (D31312).2

Matthew Imms
September 2018

1
See Powell 1995, p.243.
2
See also Powell pp.71, 82 note 58.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘The Altes Rathaus, Bamberg, from the Crane by the River Regnitz, with the Spires of the Cathedral Beyond 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-the-altes-rathaus-bamberg-from-the-crane-by-the-river-r1196154, accessed 24 April 2024.