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 > Ancona to Rome Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Ponte Felice, near Borghetto 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Ponte Felice, near Borghetto’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 70 Verso:
Ponte Felice, near Borghetto 1819
D14790
Turner Bequest CLXXVII 70 a
Pencil on white wove paper, 110 x 186 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘[?Pte] Fleci]’ bottom left
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Beyond Narni, Turner’s route to Rome continued south towards the next two post stages, Otricoli and Borghetto, where the Via Flaminia crossed the River Tiber at the Ponte Felice.1 The artist made a number of swift sketches between Narni and Borghetto, probably drawn from a moving carriage. The likely chronological sequence of these views within the sketchbook is folio 71 verso (D14792), 71 (D14791) and 70 verso (D14790).
This sketch appears to show the bridge with the town of Magliano Sabina on the right, and the slopes leading to Borghetto on the left.

Nicola Moorby
November 2008

1
The post stage itinerary was published in Reichard’s Italy, London 1818, pp.301 and 330. See Turner’s own copy (Tate, Turner Bequest CCCLXVII).

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Ponte Felice, near Borghetto 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, November 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-ponte-felice-near-borghetto-r1138953, accessed 26 April 2024.