Galileo’s Villa, for Rogers’s ‘Italy’

This vignette appears mid-way through the twenty-fifth section of Rogers’s Italy, entitled ‘The Campagna of Florence’.1 It was engraved by Edward Goodall, one of the most prolific and skilled interpreters of Turner’s designs.2 It shows an imaginary view of Galileo’s villa, which was located outside of Florence in Arcetri. In 1633, Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) was convicted of heresy for his support of Copernican (heliocentric) theory and sentenced to house arrest at his villa, where he lived until his death in 1642. In Italy, the following verses appear just above Turner’s vignette, showing how carefully Rogers paired text and image when preparing this work for publication:

Like Marengo (see Tate D27663; Turner Bequest CCLXXX 146) and Venice (see Tate D27710; Turner Bequest CCLXXX 193), this vignette makes reference to the historical figures and events that Rogers associated with the places he visited. Here, we see Galileo’s villa surrounded by cypress trees and his astronomical instruments laid out in the foreground. Turner’s design possesses a timeless quality: the absence of the great astronomer himself makes it impossible to tell whether the scene is set in the present, the past, or both.

Many contemporary readers would have recognised Rogers’s references to Galileo since interest in astronomy was growing quickly in the period leading up to the publication of Italy.3 Turner’s own fascination with astronomical ideas is reflected in the vignette, which shows a clear awareness of the scientist’s activities and interests. Included amongst the instruments in the left foreground is a prominently displayed celestial globe referring to Galileo’s efforts to map the relative positions of the stars. Since Rogers makes no reference to these activities in his verses, Turner himself must have been familiar with traditional astronomical apparatus and with Galileo’s scientific projects.4 It has also been suggested that the artist was conversant with the phenomena of earthshine, the illumination of the dark side of the new moon with reflected sunlight, as outlined by Galileo in Sidereus Nuncius, 1610.5 Turner has accurately depicted the waning moon with a sickle of direct sunlight and the ash grey light of earthshine on the darker face.