One of the most significant series of studies dating from Turner’s 1819 trip to Rome was the sequence of on-the-spot pencil sketches relating to the Loggia of Raphael in the Vatican. The drawings on this page relate to Turner’s recreation of the loggia on the right-hand side of his oil painting,
Rome from the Vatican. Raffaelle Accompanied by La Fornarina, Preparing his Pictures for the Decoration of the Loggia exhibited 1820 (Tate,
N00503).
1 They depict the stucco decorations from the arches above the second and third external piers of the loggia (i.e. the pillars between the first and second, and second and third windows from the end), arranged in four distinct groups, from top to bottom:
a
The sketches at the top of the page depicts the external (window) and transverse (vault) arches (intrados) above the second external pier, identifiable from the details of the stucco panels.
2 Turner has inscribed the study ‘2 arch arch’.
b
The sketches across the centre of the page represent the top of the third external pier comprising the spandrel, and the external and transverse arches (intrados).
3 Turner has made thumbnail studies of the stucco decorations, including on the left, a seated man and Bacchus and Ariadne, from the exterior (window) arch,
4 and on the right, centaurs, and Oreste and Erinni from the transverse arch.
5 He has also transcribed the Latin inscription ‘LXPM’ [Leo X Pontificus Maximus]’ twice from the exterior arch, and noted ‘[?Dead] End’ on the panel in between.
c
Along the centre left-hand edge is a careful study of one of the double moulded shafts of the balustrade beneath the windows of the loggia.
d
The sketches in the bottom right-hand corner represent the sections of the interlacing and arabesque patterned floor of the loggia.
6 Turner has variously annotated the studies with colour notes including ‘G Ybr’, ‘W’, ‘Y’, ‘B’, ‘Yellow’, ‘[?Darker] | M’, ‘[?Plinth 8]’, ‘G’, ‘G’, ‘Yell | P | WS’, ‘[?B...] Squares’, ‘Blue in the M[...]’, ‘Y’, ‘L’, ‘B’, ‘Y’ and ‘W Band’. The paving was originally of glazed majolica but these were removed in 1890 and replaced with grey marble slabs.
7
Nicola Moorby
January 2010
