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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Two Sketches of the Banks of the Tiber, near the Aventine Hill, Rome 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 56 Recto:
Two Sketches of the Banks of the Tiber, near the Aventine Hill, Rome 1819
D16251
Turner Bequest CLXXXVIII 53
Pencil on white wove paper, 114 x 189 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘[?Villa] underneath sketch of pyramid
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘53’ bottom right
Inscribed by an unknown hand in red ink ‘250. J. 1242’ bottom left
Stamped in black ‘53’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
There are two sketches on this page which depict views of the banks of the Tiber to the south of the Aventine Hill. The sketch at the bottom depicts a view of the eastern bank of the Tiber south of Rome looking upstream towards the city. The river is a blank space in the foreground whilst on the opposite side from left to right is Monte Testaccio; the Aventine Hill with the Churches of Santa Sabina, Sant’Alessio all’Aventino (today known as Santi Boniface e Alessio) and Santa Maria del Priorato; the Aurelian walls; and finally the Pyramid of Cestius with the adjacent Porta San Paolo (Gate of St Paul). The view continues on the opposite sheet of the double-page spread with the distant dome of St Peter’s and the tower of the Palazzo Senatorio on the Capitoline Hill, see folio 55 verso (D16256).
The location of the drawing at the top is not known but the view includes the Pyramid of Cestius. The towered structure on the left, which also appears in folio 55 verso (D16256; Turner Bequest CLXXXVIII 55v), is currently unidentified.

Nicola Moorby
September 2008

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Two Sketches of the Banks of the Tiber, near the Aventine Hill, Rome 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 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-of-the-banks-of-the-tiber-near-the-aventine-r1139767, accessed 28 March 2024.