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Joseph Mallord William Turner (English, 1775–1851)
The Pass of St. Gotthard, ca. 1803–4
Oil on canvas; 31 3/4 x 25 1/4 in. (80.6 x 64.2 cm)
Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery. Presented by the Public Picture Gallery Fund, 1935
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Turner assumed a vantage point from the center of the Devil's Bridge near the top of the Gotthard pass, offering a vertiginous view into the valley below. Silhouetted against the clouds in the middle distance, a solitary figure prays before a cross at a wayside altar. A nineteenth-century guidebook describes this treacherous crossing: "At a place called the Devil's Bridge … a wind created by the fall blows and whirls around with a force that nearly lifts one from his feet."
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