Joseph Mallord William Turner Castle of La Rancia near Macerata 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 3 Verso:
Castle of La Rancia near Macerata 1819
D14658
Turner Bequest CLXXVII 3 a
Turner Bequest CLXXVII 3 a
Pencil on white wove paper, 186 x 110 mm
Inscribed in pencil by the artist ‘Tower di Bandina’ beneath the sketch and ‘4’ and ‘4’ above the tower within the sketch
Inscribed in pencil by the artist ‘Tower di Bandina’ beneath the sketch and ‘4’ and ‘4’ above the tower within the sketch
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
References
1909
A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, London 1909, vol.I, p.520 as ‘ “Tour de Bandini.” Probably the villa of Prince Bandini between Macerata and Urbisaglia’.
1974
Gerald Wilkinson, The Sketches of Turner, R.A. 1802–20: Genius of the Romantic, London 1974, reproduced p.180, bottom right, as ‘Tour de Bandini’.
1977
Gerald Wilkinson, Turner Sketches 1789–1820, London 1977, reproduced p.[151], bottom right.
1982
Evelyn Joll and Martin Butlin, L’opera completa di Turner 1793–1829, Classici dell’arte, Milan 1982, p.[120] under no.331.
1984
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984, p.185 under no.331.
This small sketch, occupying the top third of the sketchbook page, depicts the castle of La Rancia, a large fortress which lies close to the road between Macerata and Tolentino. Originally a grain store (grancia) for the Cistercian monks of the nearby abbey, the building was fortified during the fourteenth century. It had been the focus of numerous battles in Italy’s troubled history, including most recently in May 1815, when Giocchino Murat, the King of Naples and brother-in-law of Napoleon Bonaparte, was defeated here by Austrian troops in the Battle of Tolentino. Despite being drawn swiftly, probably from a moving carriage on the highway, Turner has clearly captured the distinctive square towers and swallow-tail castellations of the fort. The accompanying inscription ‘Tower di Bandina’, recalls the site’s connection with the nearby abbey of Santa Maria di Chiaravalle di Fiastra, owned since the late eighteenth century by the powerful Bandini family.
Nicola Moorby
November 2008
How to cite
Nicola Moorby, ‘Castle of La Rancia near Macerata 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, November 2008, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www