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 Spires of Bamberg Cathedral, St Stephan, the Obere Pfarrkirche, and the Carmelite Church from Jakobsplatz 1840

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Spires of Bamberg Cathedral, St Stephan, the Obere Pfarrkirche, and the Carmelite Church from Jakobsplatz’ 1840
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 48 Recto:
The Spires of Bamberg Cathedral, St Stephan, the Obere Pfarrkirche, and the Carmelite Church from Jakobsplatz 1840
D31370
Turner Bequest CCCX 48
Pencil on cream wove paper, 126 x 198 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Heelenberg’ towards bottom right
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘48’ top right, ascending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCCX – 48’ top right, ascending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the page turned horizontally, the skyline is punctuated by the spires of Bamberg Cathedral on the left, with the tall tower of St Stephan’s Church (with enclosed platforms around the top), the Baroque spire of the Obere Pfarrkirche beyond, and the spire of the Carmelite monastery church towards the right, as identified by Cecilia Powell.1 Looking south-east, the viewpoint is Jakobsplatz, with the fortified wall at the corner of Obere Karolinenstrasse on the left, curving down the hill towards Maternstrasse.
There is a distant view of the nearby Altenburg castle on folio 47 verso opposite (D31369), with the same inscription, apparently ‘Heelenberg’, perhaps indicating a misheard or defunct local place name. 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 ibid., pp.71, 82 note 58.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘The Spires of Bamberg Cathedral, St Stephan, the Obere Pfarrkirche, and the Carmelite Church from Jakobsplatz 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-spires-of-bamberg-cathedral-st-stephan-the-obere-r1196158, accessed 22 September 2024.