J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > First Italian Tour 1819-20 > Route to Rome Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Bistocco in the Apennine Mountains 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Bistocco in the Apennine Mountains’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 4 Verso:
Bistocco in the Apennine Mountains 1819
D13866
Turner Bequest CLXXI 4 a
Pencil on white wove paper, 114 x 88 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘Bistoco’ bottom right of sketch
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
As Turner’s inscription indicates, this sketch depicts the ruined watchtower of Bistocco, near Valcimarra in the Apennine Mountains. Visible in the distance is a ruined fortress, probably the Rocca di Varano, near Campolarzo. The artist would have seen this view from the road to Rome which followed the course of the Chienti river, in between Belforte del Chienti and Serravalle di Chienti. A similar study can be seen in the Ancona to Rome sketchbook (Tate D14703; Turner Bequest CLXXVII 26).

Nicola Moorby
March 2010

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Bistocco in the Apennine Mountains 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, March 2010, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-bistocco-in-the-apennine-mountains-r1138684, accessed 24 April 2024.