Joseph Mallord William Turner

Porta Asinaria, Rome, from San Giovanni in Laterano

1819

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

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Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
St Peter’s Sketchbook
Medium
Graphite on paper
Dimensions
Support: 114 × 189 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D16319
Turner Bequest CLXXXVIII 88

Catalogue entry

Finberg incorrectly identified the subject of this inverted sketch as the Logge of the Vatican. In fact the drawing depicts a view of the Porta Asinaria, a third century gate in the Aurelian Walls, from the portico of San Giovanni in Laterano, the official church of Rome and the seat of the Pope. The composition is similar to that in a drawing by James Hakewill, engraved for Eight Views in Rome and published in 1823.1 For a sketch of the exterior façade of the Porta Asinaria see the Albano, Nemi, Rome sketchbook (Tate D15362; Turner Bequest CLXXXII 36).

Nicola Moorby
January 2009

1
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.187. no.3.8, reproduced.

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