With judicious crossings-out, the Turner scholar C.F. Bell amended Finberg’s somewhat tentative 1909
Inventory entry to read: ‘Amphitheatre at Verona’.
1 Turner’s view is from within the Roman arena, looking north-west to the arched entrance at that end and north to the four last surviving arches of the ‘ala’ or wing on the outer perimeter beyond the tiered seating. The generally well-preserved building is now a venue for operas and concerts.
Another view at the outer edge, made with the page turned vertically, is a slight study of buildings among low hills, probably made somewhere in the vicinity.
There are further sketches of the amphitheatre and other Verona sites on folios 24 recto, 26 recto–29 verso and 31 recto (
D14361,
D14364–D14370,
D14372). For the city in relation to Turner’s route east across northern Italy to Venice, see the sketchbook’s Introduction. In 1833 the artist passed through again, making numerous studies in the
Vienna up to Venice (formerly ‘Lintz, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Verona and Venice’) sketchbook (Tate
D31531–D31532,
D31538–D31541,
D31547–D31549,
D31551–D31559,
D31561–D31563,
D31577–D31579; Turner Bequest CCCXI 58a–59, 62a–64, 67–68, 69–75, 83–84).
Another sketchbook Turner carried with him on this tour includes travel notes by James Hakewill (1778–1843), with whom he had been collaborating on the
Picturesque Tour of Italy (published in 1820); see Nicola Moorby’s Introduction to the
Route to Rome book (Tate; Turner Bequest CLXXI). Hakewill mentioned: ‘Verona – | Amphitheater | Gates – | View from Count Guisti’s | Tomb of Romeo & Juliet’ (Tate
D13899; Turner Bequest CLXXI 22). Going by its apparent subject relating to Shakespeare’s Verona-set
Romeo and Juliet, Turner’s oil painting
Juliet and her Nurse, exhibited in 1836 (private collection)
2 might have been expected to show the city; in fact, its setting is unmistakably Venice, as acknowledged in the title of the 1842 engraving taken from it (Tate impression:
T05188).
3A slight watercolour study relating to illustrations for the 1830 edition of Samuel Rogers’s
Italy may be intended as Verona (Tate
D27634; Turner Bequest CCLXXX 107). For a later watercolour and engraving of the amphitheatre, see under
D14372.
