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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Four Landscapes Sketches including a View of Montecelio; and Figure Studies including a Wagon and Horse 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 92 Verso:
Four Landscapes Sketches including a View of Montecelio; and Figure Studies including a Wagon and Horse 1819
D15102
Turner Bequest CLXXIX 91 a
Pencil on white wove paper, 186 x 112 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘Mt Celio’ top left of third sketch from top, and ‘All Red | but W Sand | Blue Garters’ beside sketch of figure
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This page contains four slight landscape views, probably drawn on the road between Tivoli and Rome. Turner’s inscription indicates that the central sketch depicts a view of Montecelio, a hilltop town, approximately four miles north-west of Tivoli. Furthermore, inverted at the bottom of the page is a separate sketch of a ruined castle, possibly the medieval Rocca of Montecelio.
Turner has also used the sheet for a couple of figure studies. At the top is a swift, roughly drawn study of a wagon or cart, drawn by a horse with a man standing to the right. A tiny thumbnail sketch of a man near the bottom right-hand corner contains annotated notes on his colourful dress.

Nicola Moorby
February 2010

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Four Landscapes Sketches including a View of Montecelio; and Figure Studies including a Wagon and Horse 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, February 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-four-landscapes-sketches-including-a-view-of-montecelio-and-r1137737, accessed 19 September 2024.