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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Arch of Constantine, Rome, seen from the Via San Gregorio 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 36 Recto:
Arch of Constantine, Rome, seen from the Via San Gregorio 1819
D16455
Turner Bequest CXC 41
Pencil and grey watercolour wash on white wove paper, 130 x 255 mm
Inscribed by ?John Ruskin with traces of red ink top right and by an unknown hand in pencil ‘41’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CXC 41’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
As Cecilia Powell first correctly identified, the subject of this sketch is the southern façade of the Arch of Constantine, seen from the Via San Gregorio. The Colosseum, which stands to the right of the Arch, is very faintly hinted at by one or two indications of lines. In the background on the left is the slope of the Palatine Hill and the Temple of Venus and Roma at the eastern end of the Roman Forum. Like many drawings within this sketchbook, the composition has been executed over a washed grey background. Turner has created areas of pale highlights by rubbing or scratching through to the white paper beneath, principally to define the outline form of the Arch of Constantine. For a similar view and a more detailed discussion of the monument see folio 3 verso (D16398; Turner Bequest CXC 4).
Verso:
Blank except for traces of grey watercolour

Nicola Moorby
June 2009

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Arch of Constantine, Rome, seen from the Via San Gregorio 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, June 2009, 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-arch-of-constantine-rome-seen-from-the-via-san-gregorio-r1132544, accessed 28 March 2024.