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

Like many eighteenth- and nineteenth-century visitors to Rome, part of Turner’s exploration of the city included the panoramic views seen from certain elevated vantage points. One of the most famous of these was the Janiculum Hill (or Gianicolo), a ridge of high ground to the west of the River Tiber which offered sweeping vistas across the historical centre of the capital. The viewpoint for this composition is the Church of San Pietro in Montorio which stands at the southern end of the hill. The panorama looks east across the Trastevere district of the city, past the River Tiber towards the Capitoline and Palatine Hills, and in the far background, the distant line of the Alban Hills. Turner also made very swift and rough sketches from the same viewpoint in the Albano, Nemi, Rome sketchbook (see Tate D15447–D15449; Turner Bequest CLXXXII 78a–79a).

In common with many of the drawings within this sketchbook Turner has created highlights by scratching or rubbing through the grey watercolour wash to reveal the paper beneath. In this instance this technical device creates a comprehensive and unified horizon where many of the major landmarks are picked out in white. These include, from left to right: the Torre dei Milize; the two domes and obelisk of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore; the tower of the Palazzo Senatorio on the Capitoline Hill (not highlighted); the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina in the Roman Forum; the massive arches of the Basilica of Constantine; the Colosseum; and beneath this, San Giorgio in Velabro and the round Temple of Hercules Victor in the Forum Boarium; the vast ruined substructures of the Palatine Hill, with the statues surmounting the façade of San Giovanni in Laterano just visible beyond; and finally on the far right-hand side, the section of the Aurelian Walls which leads from the Aventine Hill to the River Tiber. Within the foreground, the key features are, from left to right: the piazza in front of San Pietro in Montorio and the campanile of Santa Maria in Trastevere; the pointed tower of San Crisogono in the centre of the drawing; and on the right the tower of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere. As Cecilia Powell first identified,1 this sketch provides the compositional basis for Rome, San Pietro in Montorio circa 1820–1 (Courtauld Institute of Art, London).2 This finished watercolour was one of a number of Italian views painted after the 1819 tour for Turner’s great friend and patron, Walter Fawkes. The topographical details, and even the trees in the immediate foreground, are extremely close to Turner’s original sketch.

Turner made a thorough exploration of various locations on the Janiculum using several sketchbooks. He made a large number of drawings from the oak of Torquato Tasso at the northern end of the hill in the Rome C. Studies sketchbook (Tate D16378; Turner Bequest CLXXXIX 49), the St Peter’s sketchbook (Tate D16158–65; Turner Bequest CLXXXVIII 2–5), and the Small Roman C. Studies sketchbook (Tate D16446–7; Turner Bequest CXC 34a–35). He also made sketches from the Villa Lante in the centre of the hill (Tate D16338; Turner Bequest CLXXXIX 12, D40856 and Tate D16449; Turner Bequest CXC 36). Finally, related sketches from the southern tip include the Fontana dell’Acqua Paola (Tate D15450; Turner Bequest CLXXXII 80) and the Villa Amelia (Tate D16353 and D40049; Turner Bequest CLXXXIX 27 and verso).

Verso:

Blank, save for being stamped in black ‘CLXXXIX 2’ bottom left.