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 ... > Rotterdam to Venice Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Ruined Castle among Mountains ?in the Dolomites 1840

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Ruined Castle among Mountains ?in the Dolomites’ 1840
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 45 Recto:
A Ruined Castle among Mountains ?in the Dolomites 1840
D32349
Turner Bequest CCCXX 45
Pencil on white wove paper, 149 x 89 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Rd’ below right of centre
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘45’ top left, upside down
Stamped in black ‘CCCXX – 45’ top left, upside down
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
There appear to be two main mountain views here, one above the other, featuring the same ruined castle near the skyline; there is also a detail of it at the top centre. It is likely shown again in the larger single view on the verso (D32350).
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, ‘A Ruined Castle among Mountains ?in the Dolomites 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-a-ruined-castle-among-mountains-in-the-dolomites-r1196583, accessed 27 April 2024.