Just outside Hirzenach in the direction of St. Goar, looking towards Hirzenach

This viewpoint can be located just before Hirzenach, looking in the direction of St. Goar.  The small village of Hirzenach is not visible in the painting.  Turner exaggerated the height of the Rhine hillsides to dramatize the everyday scene of river people, of fishermen on the riverbank and on the river.  This tendency can be seen in many of his works.  Turner’s supporter John Ruskin often referred to the fact that Turner was concerned not with producing an exact reproduction of reality, but with depicting specific light and colour phenomena.