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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Northern Germany, the Elbe and Prague ... > Dresden, Teplitz and Prague Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Carriage Sketches of Bohemian Hills 1835

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Carriage Sketches of Bohemian Hills’ 1835
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 21 Recto:
Carriage Sketches of Bohemian Hills 1835
D30336
Turner Bequest CCCI 21
Pencil on cream wove paper, 159 x 100 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘[...]’ top left, ‘B[...] [...]’ centre towards top, ‘G[...]’ centre left, ‘Will[...]’ bottom centre
Inscribed in red ink by Ruskin ‘21’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCCI – 21’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
These slight and uneven sketches have been rendered with the sketchbook turned upside down. They were likely dashed off as Turner travelled by carriage from Teplitz to the Bohemian capital Prague. The landscapes are hilly and mountainous, which suggests Turner may have been travelling through the Central Bohemian Uplands.
The artist has inscribed largely illegible notes around each sketch, probably the names of towns or mountains. ‘B[...]’ and Will[...]’ may refer to Bilin (now Bílina), a spa town close to Teplitz.

Alice Rylance-Watson
September 2015

How to cite

Alice Rylance-Watson, ‘Carriage Sketches of Bohemian Hills 1835 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2015, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, August 2017, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-carriage-sketches-of-bohemian-hills-r1186720, accessed 28 April 2024.