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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > First Italian Tour 1819-20 > Albano, Nemi, Rome Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Two Sketches Showing the Exterior and Interior of the Temple of Minerva Medica, Rome 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Two Sketches Showing the Exterior and Interior of the Temple of Minerva Medica, Rome’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 62 Recto:
Two Sketches Showing the Exterior and Interior of the Temple of Minerva Medica, Rome 1819
D15413
Turner Bequest CLXXXII 61
Pencil on white wove paper, 113 x 189 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in blue ink ‘61’ top right and ‘301’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CLXXXII 61’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Like many other artists visiting Rome, Turner sketched the so-called Temple of Minerva Medica, a ruined circular monument which stands on the Esquiline Hill between the present-day via Giovanni Giolotti and the railway tracks leading into Termini station, close to the Porta Maggiore (also known as the Porta Praenestina). The main study on this page shows the ruined exterior of the structure whilst the smaller drawing top right shows the interior with the partially collapsed vault. A related watercolour compositon can be found in the Rome C. Studies sketchbook (see Tate D16362; Turner Bequest CLXXXIX 35). For other sketches of the Temple and a full description see folio 56 (D15401; Turner Bequest CLXXXII 55).

Nicola Moorby
May 2008

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Two Sketches Showing the Exterior and Interior of the Temple of Minerva Medica, Rome 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2008, 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-two-sketches-showing-the-exterior-and-interior-of-the-temple-r1132708, accessed 24 April 2024.