Joseph Mallord William Turner

Turner left Rome sometime in mid to late December and travelled on to Florence. This page contains six sketches which were probably drawn en route from a moving vehicle, retracing part of the road which Turner had taken in September on his journey south towards Rome from Ancona. Annotations by the artist relate at least three of the sketches to Terni, an Umbrian town approximately fifty miles north of Rome, famous for the nearby Cascata or Caduta delle Marmore, also known as the Falls of Terni. In particular the second sketch from top right includes the campanile of the Cathedral of Terni. Following the industrialisation of the area during the nineteenth century, and Allied bombing during the Second World War, this is one of the few buildings which still survive today.1 A related sketch dating from the outward journey to Rome can be found in the Ancona to Rome sketchbook (see Tate D14758; Turner Bequest CLXXVII 54). Turner has also drawn a panoramic view of the landscape surrounding Terni, in which he has noted snow covering the mountains.