Joseph Mallord William Turner

St Peter’s, Rome from Bernini’s Colonnade

1819

Image released under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND (3.0 Unported)

License this image

In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

View by appointment
Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
St Peter’s Sketchbook
Medium
Graphite on paper
Dimensions
Support: 114 x 189 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D16310
Turner Bequest CLXXXVIII 83 a

Catalogue entry

Turner’s viewpoint for this sketch is the end of the northern (right) arm of the two colonnades built by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680) to frame the elliptical piazza in front of the Basilica of St Peter’s. The artist is standing within the colonnade looking out so that his view is partially obscured by the innermost row of Tuscan columns. In the background beyond he has outlined St Peter’s and drawn with more detail the adjacent façade of the Vatican loggia and the granite fountain by Carlo Maderno. A more complex composition from a different viewpoint can also be found in the Rome Colour Studies sketchbook (see Tate D16330; Turner Bequest CLXXXIX 4).

Nicola Moorby
January 2009

Read full Catalogue entry

Explore

You might like

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Colonnade of St Peter’s, Rome’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Colonnade of St Peter’s, Rome

1819
View by appointment D16330
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘St Peter’s and the Vatican from the Gardens of the Villa Barberini, Rome’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner St Peter’s and the Vatican from the Gardens of the Villa Barberini, Rome

1819
View by appointment D16333
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘St Peter’s, Rome, from the West’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner St Peter’s, Rome, from the West

1819
View by appointment D16170
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Interior of St Peter’s, Rome, from close to the Pier of St Helena’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner Interior of St Peter’s, Rome, from close to the Pier of St Helena

1819
View by appointment D16312
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘View of St Peter’s, Rome from the Pincian Hill’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner View of St Peter’s, Rome from the Pincian Hill

1819
View by appointment D16343
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Interior of St Peter’s, Rome, from near the Monument to Clement X’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner Interior of St Peter’s, Rome, from near the Monument to Clement X

1819
View by appointment D16314
Joseph Mallord William Turner, Thomas Girtin, ‘Rome: The Colonnade of St Peter’s’ c.1795–7

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Thomas Girtin Rome: The Colonnade of St Peter’s

c.1795–7
View by appointment D36528
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Rome, Looking North from the Janiculum with the Dome of St Peter’s’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner Rome, Looking North from the Janiculum with the Dome of St Peter’s

1819
View by appointment D15369
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘St Peter’s and the Vatican, Rome, from the Arco Oscuro’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner St Peter’s and the Vatican, Rome, from the Arco Oscuro

1819
View by appointment D16134
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘St Peter’s, Rome, from the Vatican Walls near Torre San Giovanni’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner St Peter’s, Rome, from the Vatican Walls near Torre San Giovanni

1819
View by appointment D16341
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Part of Panoramic View of Rome from the Tower of the Capitol: The Janiculum to St Peter’s’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner Part of Panoramic View of Rome from the Tower of the Capitol: The Janiculum to St Peter’s

1819
View by appointment D16294
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Interior of the Portico of St Peter’s, Rome, from the Northern Vestibule’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Interior of the Portico of St Peter’s, Rome, from the Northern Vestibule

1819
View by appointment D16189

Joseph Mallord William Turner St Peter’s, Rome

date not known
TW2168
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘View of Rome and St Peter’s from the Palace of the Caesars on the Palatine Hill’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner View of Rome and St Peter’s from the Palace of the Caesars on the Palatine Hill

1819
View by appointment D15393
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘View Looking North-West from Monte Testaccio, Rome, with the Distant Dome of St Peter’s’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner View Looking North-West from Monte Testaccio, Rome, with the Distant Dome of St Peter’s

1819
View by appointment D16499