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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Ruined Castles among Mountains ?in the Tyrol Alps 1840

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 23 Recto:
Ruined Castles among Mountains ?in the Tyrol Alps 1840
D32305
Turner Bequest CCCXX 23
Pencil on white wove paper, 89 x 149 mm
Partial watermark ‘J H’
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘23’ top right, ascending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCCXX – 23’ top right, ascending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The main drawing was made with the page turned horizontally, and shows what appear to be two ruined castles in a rocky setting. The lower, with its slender tower, may be the same as in the smaller sketch on folio 22 verso opposite (D32304). To the left, at right-angles, is what seems to be a third distinct castle.
A long sequence of sketches, mostly characterised as ‘Mountains’ by Finberg (with occasional identifications and transcriptions of the place names marked by the artist), lies between folios 7 recto and 76 recto (D32275–D32411).1 See the sketchbook’s Introduction for the likely overall route between Bregenz and Venice.2

Matthew Imms
September 2018

1
See Finberg 1909, II, pp.1030–2.
2
See also Cecilia Powell, Turner in Germany, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1995, pp.65, 81 note 9.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Ruined Castles among Mountains ?in the Tyrol Alps 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-ruined-castles-among-mountains-in-the-tyrol-alps-r1196539, accessed 29 March 2024.