Joseph Mallord William Turner

Finberg subsequently annotated his basic 1909 Inventory entry (‘On the Grand Canal’): ‘Fondaco de’ Turchi, &c’.1 In another copy he wrote: ‘[?Munl art] Mus^m’.2 The Turner scholar C.F. Bell marked another copy: ‘The Fondaco dei Turchi on the right Palazzo Vendramin Calergi on the left’.3

Inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, the Fondaco dei Turchi is seen on the right; apparently then in a very poor state4 and subsequently heavily restored with a third storey at each end flanking the ‘9’ gables Turner notes, it is now Venice’s natural history museum. Beyond, the Grand Canal recedes to the south-east, with the twin obelisk pinnacles of the Palazzo Belloni Battagia on the right and the campanile of Santi Apostoli in the distance and the Palazzo or Ca’ Vendramin Calergi, now the host to Venice’s Casino, at the gutter. The drawing continues part of the way across folio 90 recto opposite (D14485; Turner Bequest CLXXV 89), where the waterfront arcade of the Palazzo Gritti is seen in the foreground.

For other drawings made in the vicinity and an overview of Turner’s coverage of Venice, see the sketchbook’s Introduction.