Joseph Mallord William Turner

Fontana dei Dioscuri and the Palazzo del Quirinale, Rome

1819

Image released under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND (3.0 Unported)

License this image

In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

View by appointment
Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
St Peter’s Sketchbook
Medium
Graphite on paper
Dimensions
Support: 114 x 189 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D16278
Turner Bequest CLXXXVIII 67

Catalogue entry

The tallest of the legendary Seven Hills of Rome, the Quirinal Hill lies to the north-east of the historic centre of the city, just south of the Borghese Gardens. In the nineteenth century the area was still known by its popular medieval name, the Monte Cavallo (Hill of the Horses), derived from a colossal pair of statues known as the ‘Dioscuri’ or ‘Horse Tamers’, which had stood there since the Middle Ages. Roman copies of Greek originals, the statues represent the twins, Castor and Pollux, each holding a prancing horse. During the 1780s, they were repositioned in the Piazza del Quirinale on either side of an Egyptian obelisk and in 1818, the addition of an antique granite basin transformed the group into a fountain, the Fontana dei Dioscuri. This sketch depicts the back of the monument as seen from the south-east corner of the piazza, looking across towards the Palazzo Quirinale, the summer palace of the Popes.1 Turner’s composition is very similar to that of Piranesi’s eighteenth-century etching, Veduta della Piazza di Monte Cavallo, from the Vedute di Roma.2 For an alternative view of the Dioscuri before the addition of the fountain see James Hakewill’s 1816 drawing, Rome. Monte Cavallo (British School at Rome).3

Nicola Moorby
January 2009

1
Today the palace is the official residence of the Italian head of state.
2
Luigi Ficacci, Piranesi: The Complete Etchings, Köln and London 2000, no.974, reproduced p.742.
3
Tony Cubberley and Luke Herrmann, Twilight of the Grand Tour: A catalogue of the drawings by James Hakewill inthe British School at Rome Library, Rome 1992, p.191. no.313, reproduced.

Read full Catalogue entry

Explore

You might like

Left Right
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Palazzo Vidoni, Rome’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner Palazzo Vidoni, Rome

1819
View by appointment
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Piazza del Nettuno, Bologna, with the Fountain of Neptune, Palazzo d’Accursio (Palazzo Communale) and the Palazzo del Podestà’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Piazza del Nettuno, Bologna, with the Fountain of Neptune, Palazzo d’Accursio (Palazzo Communale) and the Palazzo del Podestà

1819
View by appointment
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Piazza della Signoria, Florence, with the Palazzo Vecchio and the Loggia dei Lanzi’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner Piazza della Signoria, Florence, with the Palazzo Vecchio and the Loggia dei Lanzi

1819
View by appointment
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Verona: Piazza dei Signori, Looking towards the Tower of the Scaligeri and Palazzo del Consiglio’ 1833

Joseph Mallord William Turner Verona: Piazza dei Signori, Looking towards the Tower of the Scaligeri and Palazzo del Consiglio

1833
View by appointment
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Grand Canal, Venice, with the Palazzo dei Camerlenghi and the Fabbriche Vecchie and Nuove beside the Erberia; the Piazza San Marco (St Mark’s Square), Venice, with the Basilica and Campanile’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Grand Canal, Venice, with the Palazzo dei Camerlenghi and the Fabbriche Vecchie and Nuove beside the Erberia; the Piazza San Marco (St Mark’s Square), Venice, with the Basilica and Campanile

1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Piazza del Popolo, Rome, Looking towards the Porta del Popolo; and a View of Lake Nemi’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner Piazza del Popolo, Rome, Looking towards the Porta del Popolo; and a View of Lake Nemi

1819
View by appointment
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Grand Canal, with the Rialto Bridge Flanked by the Fondaco dei Tedeschi and the Palazzo dei Camerlenghi, Venice’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Grand Canal, with the Rialto Bridge Flanked by the Fondaco dei Tedeschi and the Palazzo dei Camerlenghi, Venice

1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Rialto Bridge, Venice, with the Palazzo dei Camerlenghi’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Rialto Bridge, Venice, with the Palazzo dei Camerlenghi

1819
View by appointment
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Piazza Cavalli, Piacenza, with the Palazzo del Comune (‘il Gotico’)’ 1820

Joseph Mallord William Turner Piazza Cavalli, Piacenza, with the Palazzo del Comune (‘il Gotico’)

1820
View by appointment
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘St Peter’s Square, Rome, from the Southern Steps of the Basilica’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner St Peter’s Square, Rome, from the Southern Steps of the Basilica

1819
View by appointment
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Two Sketches of the View from Piazzale degli Uffizi towards Palazzo Vecchio, with the Duomo and the Loggia dei Lanzi’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner Two Sketches of the View from Piazzale degli Uffizi towards Palazzo Vecchio, with the Duomo and the Loggia dei Lanzi

1819
View by appointment
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Two Sketches in Rome: The Casa dei Crescenzi, also Known as Casa di Pilato; and the Porta Asinaria’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner Two Sketches in Rome: The Casa dei Crescenzi, also Known as Casa di Pilato; and the Porta Asinaria

1819
View by appointment
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Piazzetta, Venice, with the Columns, Biblioteca Marciana (Libreria Sansoviniana), Campanile and Palazzo Ducale (Doge’s Palace), from the Molo’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Piazzetta, Venice, with the Columns, Biblioteca Marciana (Libreria Sansoviniana), Campanile and Palazzo Ducale (Doge’s Palace), from the Molo

1819
View by appointment
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Vignette Study of Florence: Palazzo Vecchio and Loggia dei Lanzi; ?for Rogers’s ‘Italy’’ c.1826–36

Joseph Mallord William Turner Vignette Study of Florence: Palazzo Vecchio and Loggia dei Lanzi; ?for Rogers’s ‘Italy’

c.1826–36
View by appointment
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Piazza del Nettuno, Bologna’ 1828–9

Joseph Mallord William Turner Piazza del Nettuno, Bologna

1828–9
View by appointment