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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Temple of Venus and Roma, Rome, from the Esquiline Hill 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 91 Recto:
Temple of Venus and Roma, Rome, from the Esquiline Hill 1819
D16323
Turner Bequest CLXXXVIII 90
Pencil on white wove paper, 114 x 189 mm
Stamped in black ‘CLXXXVIII 90’ top left, inverted
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The subject of this inverted sketch is the Temple of Venus and Roma, seen from the Esquiline Hill, with the adjacent bell-tower of Santa Francesca Romana to the right. On the left-hand side is part of the Colosseum and the distant Arch of Constantine. For another sketch of the Temple see folio 75 (D16292; Turner Bequest CLXXXVIII 74). Turner’s location may have been a point near the Torre dei Capocci, a medieval tower on the Via Cavour near the Church of San Martino ai Monti, which might also be the structure briefly outlined in the bottom right-hand corner.
Turner made a number of sketches depicting the view in different directions from the Esquiline Hill in Rome, see folios 90 verso–92 (D16322–D16325; Turner Bequest CLXXXVIII 89a–91).

Nicola Moorby
January 2009

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Temple of Venus and Roma, Rome, from the Esquiline Hill 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, January 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-temple-of-venus-and-roma-rome-from-the-esquiline-hill-r1139835, accessed 29 March 2024.