Joseph Mallord William Turner

Turner entered the city of Rome on the Via Cassia from the north. This inverted sketch represents a view of the Torre delle Cornacchie (Tower of Crows), a medieval tower that stands twenty metres high near La Storta on the Via Cassia, just outside of Rome.1 Turner’s sketch shows the tower on the right-hand side of the road which descends gently away from the foreground. In the distance on the right is the dome of St Peter’s. See also folio 86 verso (D14822). The irregular and shaky lines indicate that the artist was drawing the subject swiftly from a moving carriage.