Finberg correctly identified the subject as the Roman Arch of Augustus at Fano. Turner shows the south-western face of the arch, which spans what is now appropriately the Via Arco d’Augusto with the west end of the small church of San Michele in the foreground to the right. The stumps of columns above the main arch survive, but the upper storey of the church’s façade is now plain brick.
Oddly, despite going to the effort of recording as much of the monumental inscription as he could make out with considerable care, Turner appears to have distractedly truncated the view by making the space to the right of the main arch too narrow and excluding the small pedestrian archway there, which mirrors the one to the left. To the right of the church door he notes the curious and delicately carved bass relief reconstruction of the elevation of the arch with its original upper arcade.
Other views around Fano are noted under folio 62 verso (
D14602; Turner Bequest CLXXVI 58a); because of this relatively extensive treatment, James Hamilton has suggested that Turner spent a night there.
1 For Cecilia Powell’s comments on the relatively uneventful phase of Turner’s journey between leaving Rimini and reaching Ancona (folios 61 recto–69 recto;
D14599–D14613; Turner Bequest CLXXVI 57–65), see under
D14599.
2
