Joseph Mallord William Turner

As Turner’s inscription indicates, the subject of this sketch is the eighteenth-century Church of San Filippo Neri, the largest religious building in the city. The drawing depicts the western façade of the church from the street known as the Contrada dell’Accademia (present-day Via dell’Accademia delle Scienza),1 and Turner’s viewpoint is in Piazza Carignano, just in front of the Palazzo Carignano. Just visible on the opposite side of the street (right-hand side of composition) is the Palazzo dell’Accademia delle Scienze (present-day Museo Egizio: Egyptian Museum). Turner had written the name ‘St Philippo Neri’ in his notes from Revd John Chetwode Eustace’s A Classical Tour Through Italy in the Italian Guide Book sketchbook (see Tate D13962; Turner Bequest CLXXII 16a).

For a list of further sketches of Turin see folio 12 (D14166; Turner Bequest CLXXIV 11).

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