The So-Called Sedia del Diavolo, Rome

In addition to the great monuments and buildings of central Rome, Turner recorded a number of noted landmarks found in the northern outskirts of the city such as the Fontana dell’Acqua Acetosa (see the Naples: Rome C. Studies sketchbook, Tate D16138; Turner Bequest CLXXXVII 50), the Torre Lazzaroni (see folio 27, D16442; Turner Bequest CXC 32) and the Ponte Molle (see folio 53, D16475; Turner Bequest CXC 59). The subject of this sketch is the so-called Sedia del Diavolo (Devil’s Chair), a Roman tomb dating from the second or third century which stands in present-day Piazza Callistio, near to the ancient Via Nomentana.1 The brick structure, known today as the tomb of Elio Callistio, is comprised of two storeys and derives its names from the shape suggested by its three surviving walls.2 Its ruined appearance, perched on an area of high ground between the Ponte Nomentano and the Church of Sant’Agnese fuori le mura, represented a picturesque motif for topographical artists.3 Further sketches can be found on folios 1, 25 verso, 39, 42 and 43 (D16399, D16426, D16458, D16462 and D16463; Turner Bequest CXC 5, 22a, 44, 47 and 48) and the tomb can also be seen in relation to the Ponte Nomentano on folios 24 verso and 45 (D16424 and D16465; Turner Bequest CXC 21a and 50). Like many drawings within this sketchbook, the composition has been executed over a washed grey background.

The Sedia del Diavolo, not as previously suggested the so-called Temple of Salus on the Via Appia Nuova,4 is the monument featured in Turner’s vignette illustration, Campagna of Rome circa 1827, for Rogers’s Italy (see Tate D27678; CCLXXX 161).