Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851), The Pass at Faido, St. Gotthard
, 19th century, Watercolor, point of brush, scratching out, over traces of pencil, Thaw Collection
, 2006.52
On commission from John Ruskin, his most ardent patron, Turner began this drawing with quick pencil sketches worked up into a "sample study." In executing the finished watercolor, he widened the view and vertically compressed the design, eliminating the sky and lowering the viewpoint so that one feels about to be swept into the foreground torrent. Traveling to Faido in 1845, Ruskin was surprised to discover that "the mountains, compared with Turner's colossal conception, look pigmy & poor."