Joseph Mallord William Turner

This page contains three sketches which appear to depict a tabernacle or roadside altar within a landscape. The rough nature of the drawings suggests that they were drawn from the road, perhaps from a moving vehicle. Turner’s inscription indicates that the bottom vista represents a distant view of the town of Genzano di Roma, see also folio 90 verso (D16083; Turner Bequest CLXXXVI 88a), but the meaning of ‘St Agatha’ currently remains unidentified. Other studies bearing the same annotation can be found on folios 62 verso–63 (D16028–D16029; Turner Bequest CLXXXVI 60a–61).

Also on the page are a couple of swift figure studies recording details of Italian peasant costume. The artist has noted that these were made at Capua, a town on the Via Appia just north of Naples.