Joseph Mallord William Turner

The Grand Canal, Venice, with the Fondaco dei Tedeschi and Rialto Bridge in the Distance; Views on the Grand Canal near San Simeone Piccolo

1819

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

License this image

Not on display
Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
Milan to Venice Sketchbook
Medium
Graphite on paper
Dimensions
Support: 112 x 185 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D14475
Turner Bequest CLXXV 83 a

Catalogue entry

The buildings receding steeply on the right-hand third of the page are in the foreground of the view south to the Rialto Bridge on the Grand Canal which continues across the full width of folio 84 recto opposite (D14476). The nearest feature is one of two matching arched doorways to the Palazzo Michiel del Brusà, with its prominent keystone in the form of a sculpted head, shown here in profile; immediately beyond is a glimpse of the Palazzo Smith Mangilli Valmarana.1
Finberg subsequently annotated his detailed 1909 Inventory entry (‘View on the Grand Canal; S. Bartolomeo and the Campanile (with scaffolding on top) in distance, also “Entrance to the G. Canal” and “Sa. Lucia.”’), bracketing ‘83a’ with ‘84’, with the former as: ‘(contn) on left) with P. Mangilli-Valmarana & To del Leonbianco in foreground. With 2 smaller sketches: one of “Entrance to the G. Canal” from Mestre, with “Sta Lucia” on left, Ponte della Croce on r., & S. Simeone Picco beyond near centre; the other looking twds Mestre from end of G. Canal’.2 In another copy he wrote: ‘from Erberia’ and ‘also Sacca della [...] lkg twds Mestre’.3 Regarding the present page, the Turner scholar C.F. Bell marked another copy: ‘3 sketches | 2 of the [?Ch] W [?end] of Grand Canal’.4
There are two smaller sketches, made with page turned vertically, in the outer half, made at the north-western entrance to the Grand Canal. The one nearest the centre apparently shows a view north-west to the mainland from the vicinity of the entrance to the Rio Nuovo, south-west of the later railway station. The station bears the name of the church of Santa Lucia, formerly on the site, and marked on the left of Turner’s second view, from a similar vantage point, now looking north-east to the prominent dome of San Simeone Piccolo, and the campanile of San Geremia beyond. Finberg noted that along with a few others on subsequently foliated pages, these smaller sketches ‘complete Turner’s studies of this part of Venice’.5
Turner would depict the large dome of San Simeone Piccolo in an evocative but inaccurate watercolour of 1840 (Tate D32134; Turner Bequest CCCXV 8); Ian Warrell has suggested it was probably ‘executed from memory’ without references to this and other 1819 pencil sketches. 6 For other drawings made in the vicinity and an overview of Turner’s coverage of Venice, see the sketchbook’s Introduction.
1
See Finberg 1930, p.49.
2
Undated MS note by A.J. Finberg (died 1939) in interleaved copy of Finberg 1909, Tate Britain Prints and Drawings Room, I, opposite p.515.
3
Undated MS note by Finberg in copy of Finberg 1909, Tate Britain Prints and Drawings Room, I, p.515.
4
Undated MS note by C.F. Bell (died 1966) in copy of Finberg 1909, Tate Britain Prints and Drawings Room, I, p.515.
5
Finberg 1930, p.53.
6
See Warrell 2003, pp.150, 264 note 3.

Matthew Imms
March 2017

Read full Catalogue entry

Explore

You might like

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Grand Canal, Venice, with the Fondaco dei Tedeschi and Rialto Bridge in the Distance’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Grand Canal, Venice, with the Fondaco dei Tedeschi and Rialto Bridge in the Distance

1819
D14476
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Boats on the Grand Canal, Venice, with the Rialto Bridge in the Distance’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner Boats on the Grand Canal, Venice, with the Rialto Bridge in the Distance

1819
D14467
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Palaces on the Grand Canal, Venice, from the Junction with the Rio di Ca’ Foscari, with the Rialto Bridge in the Distance’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner Palaces on the Grand Canal, Venice, from the Junction with the Rio di Ca’ Foscari, with the Rialto Bridge in the Distance

1819
D14453
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Grand Canal, Venice, with the Rialto Bridge and the Palazzo dei Camerlenghi’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Grand Canal, Venice, with the Rialto Bridge and the Palazzo dei Camerlenghi

1819
D14463
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Palaces on the Grand Canal, Venice, from the Junction with the Rio di Ca’ Foscari, with the Rialto Bridge in the Distance’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner Palaces on the Grand Canal, Venice, from the Junction with the Rio di Ca’ Foscari, with the Rialto Bridge in the Distance

1819
D14452
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Rialto Bridge on the Grand Canal, Venice, with the Fondaco dei Tedeschi Beyond’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Rialto Bridge on the Grand Canal, Venice, with the Fondaco dei Tedeschi Beyond

1819
D14465
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Grand Canal, Venice, with the Rialto Bridge and Palazzi Including the Bembo and Dolfin Manin’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Grand Canal, Venice, with the Rialto Bridge and Palazzi Including the Bembo and Dolfin Manin

1819
D14458
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Rialto Bridge on the Grand Canal, Venice, with the Fondaco dei Tedeschi Beyond’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Rialto Bridge on the Grand Canal, Venice, with the Fondaco dei Tedeschi Beyond

1819
D14466
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Boats on the Grand Canal, Venice, with the Rialto Bridge and the Campanile of San Bartolomeo’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner Boats on the Grand Canal, Venice, with the Rialto Bridge and the Campanile of San Bartolomeo

1819
D14387
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Grand Canal, with the Rialto Bridge Flanked by the Fondaco dei Tedeschi and the Palazzo dei Camerlenghi, Venice’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Grand Canal, with the Rialto Bridge Flanked by the Fondaco dei Tedeschi and the Palazzo dei Camerlenghi, Venice

1819
D14473
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Grand Canal, Venice, from under the Rialto Bridge, Looking towards the Palazzo Grimani’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Grand Canal, Venice, from under the Rialto Bridge, Looking towards the Palazzo Grimani

1819
D14469
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Grand Canal, Venice, with the Fondaco dei Turchi’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Grand Canal, Venice, with the Fondaco dei Turchi

1819
D14484
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Grand Canal, Venice, with the Pescaria, and the Fondaco dei Tedeschi in the Distance’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Grand Canal, Venice, with the Pescaria, and the Fondaco dei Tedeschi in the Distance

1819
D14461
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Grand Canal, Venice, with the Rialto Bridge and Palazzi Including the Bembo and Dolfin Manin’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Grand Canal, Venice, with the Rialto Bridge and Palazzi Including the Bembo and Dolfin Manin

1819
D14457
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Grand Canal, with the Rialto Bridge Flanked by the Fondaco dei Tedeschi and the Palazzo dei Camerlenghi, Venice; Studies of Boats; ?a Sculptural Group or Coat of Arms’ 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Grand Canal, with the Rialto Bridge Flanked by the Fondaco dei Tedeschi and the Palazzo dei Camerlenghi, Venice; Studies of Boats; ?a Sculptural Group or Coat of Arms

1819
D14474