Joseph Mallord William Turner

Finberg mistook the subject of this diagram for the colonnade of Carlton House, London, for which see Diagram 8/9 (Tate D17143; Turner Bequest CXCV 172). Instead, it is a side elevation of a classical stoa or portico based on plates published in James ‘Athenian’ Stuart’s and Nicholas Revett’s The Antiquities of Athens (1762, vol.I, chap.V, pls.II and IV). It is one of three diagrams made by Turner from these illustrations for his lectures as Professor of Perspective at the Royal Academy (see also Tate D17140 and D17141; Turner Bequest CXCV 169, 170). Stuart and Revett describe the building as one ‘commonly supposed to be the remains of the Temple of Jupiter Olympus’ (the Olympieion).

After presenting his second illustration, a side elevation rendered in simple outline (D17141), Turner shows another view of the same building, now with colour and shading. He hopes his examples will deter students from applying atmospheric perspective to their geometric drawings in a quest to receive the Academy’s prize ‘Premium’ in architecture.1 While these pictorial effects lend the scene more spatial depth, the drawing still does not convey the number of columns along the building’s front. Hence Turner argues that geometric drawings and perspective views, while equally important, should remain separate.

Turner does not discuss Stuart and Revett’s plan or elevations in the version of Lecture 1 delivered in 1811, although a reference to ‘Stuart’s Athens Drawing’ pencilled in the margins of the text indicates that he may have introduced the topic in subsequent re-workings of the material.2 A later manuscript also used for lecturing refers directly to all three diagrams.3 Turner also discusses the material in lecture manuscript titled ‘Light, Shade, and Reflexies’.4 There is a preliminary sketch in a manuscript filled with Turner’s notes.5

Verso:

Indications of transfer process (see Tate D40015).