'View of St Peter's and the Vatican, Rome from the South, with the Janiculum Hill', Joseph Mallord William Turner

Artwork details

Artist

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775‑1851)

Title

View of St Peter's and the Vatican, Rome from the South, with the Janiculum Hill

From Albano, Nemi, Rome Sketchbook

Turner Bequest CLXXXII

Date 1819

MediumGraphite on paper

Dimensionssupport: 113 x 189 mm

Collection

Tate

Acquisition Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856

Reference

D15443

Turner Bequest CLXXXII 76

View this artwork by appointment, at Tate Britain's Prints and Drawings Rooms

Turner's sketchbooks

View this artwork in the Albano, Nemi, Rome Sketchbook

Catalogue entry

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851

Folio 77 Recto:

View of St Peter’s and the Vatican, Rome from the South, with the Janiculum Hill 1819

D15443
Turner Bequest CLXXXII 76

Pencil on white wove paper, 113 x 189 mm

Inscribed by John Ruskin in blue ink ‘76’ top right and ‘301’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CLXXXII 76’ bottom right

Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856

References

The subject of this sketch is a view looking north towards St Peter’s and the Vatican with the Janiculum Hill on the west (right-hand side). Visible in the distance is the heights of Monte Mario crowned by trees and the Villa Mellini. Turner’s location is not conclusively identified although it appears to have been a point on the Via delle Fornaci. The composition continues on the opposite sheet of the double-page spread, see folio 76 verso (D15442; Turner Bequest CLXXXII 75a). For further sketches from the Janiculum see folio 39 verso-40 (D15369–D15370).

A separate sketch along the top of the page appears to show part of the skyline of the city with distant mountains beyond.

Nicola Moorby
May 2008

Read this catalogue entry in full

This catalogue entry is part of: David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, December 2012.