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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Sketches of Ariccia and the Church of Santa Maria di Galloro 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 88 Recto:
Sketches of Ariccia and the Church of Santa Maria di Galloro 1819
D15463
Turner Bequest CLXXXII 87
Pencil on white wove paper, 113 x 189 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘Larica’ top of sketch across bottom of page and ‘the Wind upon the olive gives the p[...]r of [?Clay] | was this by the white light it has. Gensano if this wind does not [?cut] in the next. Tree is ap[...] as usual the | [?Stone] [?dark]’ inverted across top. Also ‘[?Le]’, ‘[?Com]’, ‘S’, ‘S’, ‘S’ and ‘[?Cows]’ within and underneath sketch along right-hand foredge
Inscribed by John Ruskin in blue ink ‘87’ top right and ‘301’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CLXXXII 87’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The subject along the left-hand edge nearest the spine of the sketchbook is the sanctuary of Santa Maria di Galloro, a church by Bernini which stands just outside of Ariccia on the Via Appia Nuova towards Genzano. See also folios 87 and 88 (D15461 and D15463; Turner Bequest CLXXXII 86 and CLXXXII 87). The inverted sketch in the centre meanwhile is also a rough study of the Baroque façade of the church.
Along the bottom of the page is a sketch which depicts a distant view of Ariccia, labelled by Turner and recognisable from the dome of the Church of Santa Maria dell’Assunzione. In the foreground amidst the wood there is an arch on the left and two studies of a structure which appears to be a man-made tunnel on the right. For a general discussion of Ariccia see folio 83 verso (D15455; Turner Bequest CLXXXII 82a).
The subject along the right-hand foredge has not been positively identified although it may be a distant view of the collegiate Church of Santissima Trinità at Genzano. Underneath the landscape view is a diagrammatic sketch of a hexagonal and rectangular sketch but it is not clear what these are meant to represent.

Nicola Moorby
May 2008

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Sketches of Ariccia and the Church of Santa Maria di Galloro 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-sketches-of-ariccia-and-the-church-of-santa-maria-di-galloro-r1132758, accessed 28 March 2024.