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 ... > Trieste, Graz and Danube Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Mountain Scenes with Distant Castles, ?near Graz 1840

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Mountain Scenes with Distant Castles, ?near Graz’ 1840
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 1 Recto:
Mountain Scenes with Distant Castles, ?near Graz 1840
D30002
Turner Bequest CCXCIX 1
Pencil on cream wove paper, 127 x 198 mm
Partial watermark ‘J. Wha’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘[...] Gratz [... ?WB]’ top right, ‘30 Hills’ towards bottom left, and ‘[... | ...]’ centre right, upside down
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘1’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCXCIX – 1’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the page turned horizontally both ways, there appear to be at least four overlapping sketches here,1 showing mountainous views and distant castles, with scattered written notes. The inscription over the skyline at the top right includes the word ‘Gratz’, the customary spelling at that time for Graz (see under folio 41 verso; D30079), and these views may have been made as Turner approached north-eastwards through the rugged landscape from Trieste (see under folio 57 recto; D30109).
Compare the view or views inside the front cover opposite (D41222).
1
See Powell 1995, p.242.
Technical notes:
There is staining towards the bottom left and right offset from where leather pencil loops are secured under the paste-down inside the front cover opposite (D41222).

Matthew Imms
September 2018

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Mountain Scenes with Distant Castles, ?near Graz 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-mountain-scenes-with-distant-castles-near-graz-r1196852, accessed 26 April 2024.