Joseph Mallord William Turner

Three Sketches ?in the Grounds of the Villa Borghese, Rome, including a Distant View of St Peter’s

1819

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In Tate Britain

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Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of: Rome and Florence Sketchbook
Medium: Graphite on paper
Dimensions: Support: 113 × 189 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D16528
Turner Bequest CXCI 23 a

Catalogue entry

The locations of these three sketches have not been conclusively identified but the combination of trees, statues and buildings suggests that they may depict views in the grounds of the Villa Borghese, a large area of parkland north of central Rome, built during the early seventeenth century for Cardinal Scipione Borghese, nephew of Pope Paul V.1 The panorama at the bottom of the page also appears to show a distant view of St Peter’s across what may be a lake. Other sketches of the Villa Borghese grounds can be found on folios 21–23 (D16523–D16527).

Nicola Moorby
February 2009

Powell 1984, p.428; see http://en.villaborghese.it/la_villa/storia, accessed February 2009.

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