J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner

Joseph Mallord William Turner Sketches of Three Paintings by Claude in the Palazzo Pallavicini-Rospigliosi, Rome 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Sketches of Three Paintings by Claude in the Palazzo Pallavicini-Rospigliosi, Rome’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 82 Recto:
Sketches of Three Paintings by Claude in the Palazzo Pallavicini-Rospigliosi, Rome 1819
D16850
Turner Bequest CXCIII 81
Pencil on white wove paper, 115 x 94 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil (see main catalogue entry)
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘81’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CXCIII 81’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
During his stay in Rome Turner made a series of copies of paintings by the artist he most admired, Claude Lorrain (circa 1604/5–1682). This page contains three sketches of pictures found in the Palazzo Pallavicini-Rospigliosi on the Quirinal Hill.1 The studies represent, from top to bottom:
a.
The top sketch depicts Landscape with the Nymph Egeria Mourning Over Numa, 1669 (Museo Nazionale, Capodimonte, Naples).2 Turner has inscribed the study ‘Naples’ indicating the location of the original painting. However he would have made this sketch after a copy of the picture in the Palazzo Pallavicini.3
b.
The central sketch represents Landscape with Bacchus at the Palace of the Dead Staphylus, 1672 (Collection Pallavicini, Rome).4 This picture had recently belonged to the Colonna family, hence Turner’s inscription ‘Colonna’ beneath his drawing.
c.
The bottom sketch is a copy of Coast View with Mercury and Aglauros, 1643 (Collection Pallavicini, Rome).5 Turner has annotated the study ‘Blue’ to indicate the bright splash of colour in the foreground.
Turner made further studies of paintings by Claude in the Barberini, Sciarra and Doria-Pamphili collections, see folios 81 and 81 verso (D16848, D16849; Turner Bequest CXCIII 80 and 80a), as well as in as well as in the Uffizi, Florence (see Rome and Florence sketchbook, Tate D16585; Turner Bequest CXCI 60). Cecilia Powell has discussed how his division of pages in the Remarks (Italy) sketchbook resembles that of his earlier copies of Claude’s works in the Fonthill sketchbook, 1804 (see Tate D41265; Turner Bequest XLVII 19a).6
Notes relating the ‘Aurora’ fresco by Guido Reni decorating one of the ceilings of the Palazzo Pallavicini-Rospigliosi can be found on folios 4–4 verso (D16766–D16767; Turner Bequest CXCIII 3–3a).
1
First fully identified by Ziff 1965, p.62.
2
Reproduced in colour in Warrell 2002, p.113, ill.51.
3
Kitson 1983, p.15 note 50, and Powell 1987, p.68.
4
Reproduced in Warrell 2002, p.113, ill.53
5
Reproduced in ibid., p.113, ill.54.
6
Powell 1984, p.160.
Verso:
Blank

Nicola Moorby
March 2011

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Sketches of Three Paintings by Claude in the Palazzo Pallavicini-Rospigliosi, Rome 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, March 2011, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-sketches-of-three-paintings-by-claude-in-the-palazzo-r1138625, accessed 14 July 2025.