This page contains an inscription by James Hakewill (1778–1843), part of his advice to Turner on travelling in Italy in preparation for the artist’s first tour of the country in 1819 (see the introduction to the sketchbook). The text, which relates to locations in Rome, was first transcribed by Finberg,
1 but more correctly so by Thomas Ashby,
2 and reads:
Camerere not laquis de place.
usual pay of a camerere, 9 scudi
pr month.
Vari, in the Strada Babuino } booksellers
Monaldini, in the Piazza di Spagna } &c.
See Camuccini’s pictures and notice a | small crucifixion by Vandyke. –
‘Cameriere’ is the Italian word for waiter, whilst a ‘laquais de place’ was a local servant, often hired by travellers during a stay in a foreign country. In addition to providing Turner with the names of booksellers near the Spanish Steps, an area popular with English tourists, Hakewill also advises that he visits the pictures of Vincenzo Camuccini, (1771–1844), one of the pre-eminent academic painters in Rome at this period. Further lists of places of interest in Rome can also be found on folios 35 and 35 verso (
D13924 and
D13926).
In addition to Hakewill’s writing, Turner has also used the left-hand side of this page to make extensive critical notes on frescoes in the Villa Farnesina. This sixteenth-century house (now the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei), stands near the banks of the River Tiber in Rome’s Trastevere district, at the foot of the Janiculum Hill and is famous for its fresco decorations commissioned by Agostino Chigi (1466–1520). The artist’s comments relate to the parts of the villa decorated by Raphael (1483–1520) and his follower, Giulio Romano (circa 1499–1546), particularly the Loggia di Psyche and the
Triumph of Galatea. The text was first fully transcribed by Cecilia Powell,
3 and the inscription is repeated here with only minor variations:
P. Farnese. the story of Cupid and P. | by Raffaello and Julio Romano the | Spandels of the Graces .. Proserpina Mercury | and Jupiter and ^[?...]^Cupid [cross encircled] M + the | boy carrying a shield [dot encircled] + Galetea changed: | [?painting] of Robe of G – one of the Cupids | exquisite colored. the Juno in the recon | ciliation of the Gods Ex. in Blue. Venus | Purple but changed like the Galetea red with | shadows but not so heavy