Joseph Mallord William Turner

The Piazza delle Erbe, Verona

1819

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Not on display

Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of: Milan to Venice Sketchbook
Medium: Graphite on paper
Dimensions: Support: 185 x 112 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D14366
Turner Bequest CLXXV 27

Catalogue entry

The Turner scholar C.F. Bell crossed out Finberg’s vague 1909 Inventory entry ‘Towers, &c.’, writing: ‘Verona Piazza Erbe &c’.1 This identification is correct, with the Piazza delle Erbe seen from the south-east, dominated by the Torre dei Lamberti with its prominent clock and belfry on the right. Somewhat less conspicuous is the Baroque Palazzo Maffei in the distance at the north-west end of the square.

To accommodate the looming tower, the drawing was made with the page turned vertically, necessitating a disjointed continuation above the main view to include the medieval Torre del Gardello beside the Palazzo Maffei and the buildings leading to it along the south-west side of the square. Compare the watercolour view of about 1826–7 by Richard Parkes Bonington (Tate T08146).

For other views of the arena and the city, see under see under folio 25 recto (D14363).

Undated MS note by C.F. Bell (died 1966) in copy of Finberg 1909, Tate Britain Prints and Drawings Room, I, p.512.

Verso:

Blank

Matthew Imms
March 2017

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