Joseph Mallord William Turner

The Gardens of the Villa d’Este, Tivoli, from the Organ Fountain

1819

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

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Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
Tivoli to Rome Sketchbook
Medium
Graphite on paper
Dimensions
Support: 112 x 186 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D14994
Turner Bequest CLXXIX 37

Catalogue entry

This sketch depicts part of the sixteenth-century Villa d’Este, in Tivoli. The view looks south across the gardens towards the casino from the Organ Fountain, a hydraulic water feature which was designed to push air through a series of pipes to emit sound. The tall circular structure behind the fountain is the apse of the Church of San Pietro alla Carità. In the top right-hand corner is a smaller sketch of another detail of the gardens.
For a full discussion of Turner’s sketches of the Villa d’Este see folio 5 verso (D14942).

Nicola Moorby
January 2010

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