Joseph Mallord William Turner

?Two Sketches Inside the Gallery of Gondo; and Part of a View of Ponte Alto

1819

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

View by appointment

Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of: Turin, Como, Lugarno, Maggiore Sketchbook
Medium: Graphite on paper
Dimensions: Support: 111 × 186 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D14322
Turner Bequest CLXXIV 91

Catalogue entry

This page contains three distinct sketches. The two uppermost drawings are very rough, and even the correct orientation is difficult to ascertain. They appear to represent a dark, rocky tunnel and therefore may depict the interior of one of the galleries cut through the mountains on the road to the Simplon Pass, for example the famous Gallery of Gondo, see folio 91 (D14320; Turner Bequest CLXXIV 90). A comparable study can be found in the Passage to the Simplon sketchbook (Tate D16919; Turner Bequest CXCIV 15a).

The details at the bottom of the page have been drawn with the sketchbook held horizontally and represent part of the landscape composition on the opposite sheet of the double-page spread, see folio 91 verso (D14321; Turner Bequest CLXXIV 90a). The subject is a view of the Ponte Alto, near the Gallery of Gondo.

For a general discussion of Turner’s journey to the Simplon Pass see the introduction to the sketchbook, and also the introduction to the Passage of the Simplon sketchbook (Tate, Turner Bequest CXCIV).

Nicola Moorby
January 2013

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