North-West View of Jerusalem

Although Turner never visited Jerusalem, his imagination was strongly attracted to the Holy City because of his profound knowledge of the Bible, and he drew inspiration from contemporary artists who traveled East in the spirit of Romanticism and recorded the landscapes they saw. This watercolor was made from a sketch drawn in situ by Sir Charles Barry who traveled in the region in 1817–20; it served as preparation for an engraving in the Finden brothers' Landscape Illustrations of the Bible. Turner's view shows the city from the north looking south, with Damascus Gate on the left, the Dome of the Rock slightly left of center, the Mount of Olives rising from behind it, and the Dome of the Holy Sepulchre on the right. In the foreground, a group of women and children, dressed in what seems like a European vision of Oriental clothing, rest under the trees.