Lot Essay
This hitherto unrecorded watercolour has been identified as probably being a view of Schwyz, apparently as seen from the Laderzer See with the twin peaks of the Mythen behind. For two comparable views see that in the National Gallery of Scotland (A. Wilton, The Life and Work of J.M.W. Turner, Fribourg and London, 1979, p.478, no.1487, repr.) and that sold at Sotheby's, New York, on 21 May 1987 (lot 30, repr. in colour).
Turner had visited Schwyz on his first visit to the Continent in 1802 but these late watercolours must be the product of one of his tours in Switzerland in the 1840s, most probably that of 1843, when he passed by Schwyz on his way from Lucerne to the St. Gotthard pass (see J. Russell and A. Wilton, Turner in Switzerland, Zurich, 1976, pp.30-37, with maps showing Turner's routes on his various visits). Three drawings in Turner's Lake of Zug and Goldau Sketchbook are inscribed 'Switz', one of several alternative spellings for Schwyz, which gave its name to the country Switzerland (the spelling 'Schwitz' appears in a map of 1776 repr. Russell and Wilton, op. cit., pp. 38-9)
Turner had visited Schwyz on his first visit to the Continent in 1802 but these late watercolours must be the product of one of his tours in Switzerland in the 1840s, most probably that of 1843, when he passed by Schwyz on his way from Lucerne to the St. Gotthard pass (see J. Russell and A. Wilton, Turner in Switzerland, Zurich, 1976, pp.30-37, with maps showing Turner's routes on his various visits). Three drawings in Turner's Lake of Zug and Goldau Sketchbook are inscribed 'Switz', one of several alternative spellings for Schwyz, which gave its name to the country Switzerland (the spelling 'Schwitz' appears in a map of 1776 repr. Russell and Wilton, op. cit., pp. 38-9)