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

The Friedrichsbau and Bandhaus of Heidelberg Castle are recorded from the northern terrace or Altan. ‘8’, ‘B’ and ‘B Doric’ are inscribed on the facades of the buildings. Turner has compressed the rest of the view looking west down the Necker beyond the Friedrichsbau and Bandhaus in sketches at right, which are separated by a fine diagonal line extending from bottom right to top centre. The rest of the Bandhaus is recorded at top right, while the view down the Neckar beyond the Altan is recorded below it, including the Church of the Holy Spirit. As the art historian David Hill writes, this view is an example of Turner’s ‘synthetic sketching method’ which ‘allowed him to cram into his page a much more extensive field of view’ and as much topographical information as possible.1

For more views of Heidelberg in this sketchbook see Tate D29815–D29865; Turner Bequest CCXCVIII 1a–26a. See also Tate D30132; Turner Bequest CCC 2 within the Salzburg and Danube sketchbook of 1833. For sketches of the city taken in 1841 see the Berne, Heidelberg and Rhine sketchbook (Tate D32957–D32962, D32966; Turner Bequest CCCXXVI 39a–42, 44). For sketches taken during the1844 tour of Heidelberg and the Neckar, see the Spires and Heidelberg sketchbook (Tate D29783, D29795, D29796, D29799, D29801–D29807; Turner Bequest CCXCVII 6a, 12a, 13, 14a, 15a–19); the On the Neckar sketchbook (Tate D30394, D30456; Turner Bequest CCII 12a, 43a); and the Heidelberg sketchbook (Tate D35223, D35224, D35228, D35229, D35231–D35233, D35235, D35237, D35238; Turner Bequest CCCLII 4a, 5, 8, 9, 11–13, 15, 17, 18). Loose colour studies, paintings and engravings of Heidelberg in the Tate collection include D36183, D36325; Turner Bequest CCCLXVI 325, CCCLXV 34, Tate N00518 and Tate impression T05190.