View from Monte Mario, Rome, with the Ponte Molle and the River Tiber

The panorama of Rome as seen from the heights of Monte Mario was one of the most frequently depicted views in the Italian topographical tradition. John Chetwode Eustace, author of A Classical Tour in Italy described the view from the Villa Mellini (now the Rome Observatory) on the summit of the hill:

Turner made a number of on-the-spot sketches and more elaborate drawings of the view during his 1819 sojourn in Rome. This page depicts part of the prospect, the view looks north-east towards the sweeping bend of the River Tiber and the ancient Ponte Molle, also known as the Ponte Milvio. This crossing carried the Via Flaminia across the Tiber into Rome and hence was the entry and exit point for British tourists to and from the city during the nineteenth century. Famous as the site of the deciding battle between Emperors Constantine and Maxentius in 312 AD, the bridge is recognisable from the four central arches spanning the river (there were also two smaller arches at either end not clearly visible from a distance) and an entrance tower on the northern end (left) which had been rebuilt in 1805.2 As a young man, Turner had made a number of watercolour copies of images of the bridge with his contemporary, Thomas Girtin for Dr Monro’s Album of Italian Views, 1794–6 (see Tate D36443–D36445; Turner Bequest CCCLXXIII 30–32). In the far distance is the mountain ridge of Monte Sorratte, known historically as Soracte. Turner’s viewpoint was a spot in the grounds of the Villa Madama, another villa with terraced gardens which lies further north from the Villa Mellini on the lower slopes of the hill, see folio 13 verso (D16182). The composition is very similar to James Hakewill’s drawing of the same subject, View of the Ponte Molle and the Tiber, Looking across the Campagna to the Sabine Mountains 1816.3 Turner made a number of sketches of the view towards Ponte Molle from Monte Mario, see folios 10, 10 verso, 11, 13 verso, 14 (D16175, D16176, D16177, D16182, D16183). He also completed tonal and coloured studies of a similar view in the Small Roman C. Studies sketchbook (see Tate D16444, and D16481; Turner Bequest CXC 33a and 64), and the Roman Colour Studies sketchbook (see Tate D16391; Turner Bequest CLXXXIX 60).