Description
Turner looks along the Arc River gorge toward the stepped Fort of L’Esseillon, with snowcapped mountains beyond. The construction occupies a slope in the middle distance, allowing the valley to hold both a military landmark and the larger forms of the Alps. The watercolor makes the fort substantial without letting its architecture overwhelm the surrounding terrain.
Dated 1835–1836, the drawing describes a complex built to guard the Mont-Cenis Pass into Italy. The Metropolitan Museum suggests that Turner probably borrowed some compositional details from an engraved illustration by William Brockedon rather than simply recording the view on the spot. That possibility gives the image a history of looking through another image. Its interest remains in the relation between the stepped defenses, the gorge and the distant peaks, where human construction belongs to a much greater mountain setting.
Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the J. M. W. Turner collection.
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