Joseph Mallord William Turner

Twelve Copies of Engravings after John ‘Warwick’ Smith from ‘Select Views in Italy’

c.1819

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

View by appointment
Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
Italian Guide Book Sketchbook
Medium
Graphite on paper
Dimensions
Support: 155 x 99 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D13966
Turner Bequest CLXXII 19

Catalogue entry

This page is one of a series containing small pen-and-ink sketches of topographical Italian views. As Finberg first identified, these are copies of the engraved plates in John Smith, William Byrne and John Emes’s, Select Views in Italy, published in two volumes between 1792–9. The images derive from the following compositions (in sequence left to right and top to bottom):
i
The Bridge and Castle of St. Angelo at Rome, drawn by John ‘Warwick’ Smith and engraved by William Byrne.1 Inscribed by the artist in black ink ‘Castle of St Angelo’ bottom centre.
ii
Internal View of the Coliseum, drawn by John ‘Warwick’ Smith and engraved by John Landseer and John Roffe.2 Inscribed by the artist in black ink ‘Coliseum’ bottom centre.
iii
The Coliseum, &c. from Mount Palatine, drawn by John ‘Warwick’ Smith and engraved by John Emes.3 Inscribed by the artist in black ink ‘from Mt Palinna’ [sic] bottom centre.
iv
Campo Vaccino, drawn by John ‘Warwick’ Smith and engraved by William Byrne and James Sparrow.4 Inscribed by the artist in black ink ‘Campo Vaccino’ bottom left.
v
Arch of Septimius Severus, &c., drawn by John ‘Warwick’ Smith and engraved by William Byrne and James Sparrow.5 Inscribed by the artist in black ink ‘Arch of S Severus’ bottom left.
vi
Temple of Bacchus, drawn by John ‘Warwick’ Smith and engraved by William Byrne.6 Inscribed by the artist in black ink ‘Temple of Bacchus | St Agnes a Bust of Saviour | by M Angelo’ bottom right. This note derives from the accompanying text which describes a ‘truly excellent’ white marble bust of Christ by Michelangelo in the Church of St Agnese, adjacent to the ancient temple of Bacchus, also known as Santa Costanza. For Turner’s sketch of this sculpture see the Small Rome C. Studies sketchbook (Tate D1639; Turner Bequest CXC 5).
vii
Ponte Lucano, drawn by John ‘Warwick’ Smith and engraved by Thomas Medland.7 Inscribed by the artist in black ink ‘Tomb of the Plautian family | Ponte Lucano nr Tivoli’ bottom centre. The note derives from the accompanying text which describes the ancient Roman tomb adjacent to the bridge although Turner would also have known this through his reading of Eustace, see folio 11 (D13951).

Nicola Moorby
July 2008

1
John Smith, William Byrne and John Emes, Select Views in Italy with Topographical and Historical Descriptions in English and French, vol.I, London 1792, pl.24.
2
Ibid., pl.25.
3
Ibid., pl.26.
4
Ibid., pl.27.
5
Ibid., pl.28.
6
Ibid., pl.29.
7
Ibid., pl.30.
8
Ibid., pl.31.
9
Ibid., pl.32.
10
Ibid., pl.33.
11
Ibid., pl.34.
12
Ibid., pl.35.

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