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 Notes by Turner from Reichard's 'Itinerary of Italy' 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Notes by Turner from Reichard's 'Itinerary of Italy'’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 1 Recto:
Notes by Turner from Reichard’s ‘Itinerary of Italy’ 1819
D13859
Turner Bequest CLXXI 1
Black ink on white wove paper, 114 x 88 mm
Inscribed by the artist (see main catalogue entry)
Inscribed in black ink ‘No 383 | 26 leaves of pencil sketches | H.S. Trimmer’ and initialled in pencil by Charles Lock Eastlake ‘C.L.E.’ and John Prescott Knight, ‘JPK’ bottom centre. Also inscribed by an unknown hand in pencil ‘CLXXI’ bottom left
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘1’ bottom left, descending left-hand edge
Stamped in black ‘CLXXI 1’ bottom left, descending left-hand edge
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner has used this page to make notes on routes and distances between locations for the nineteenth-century traveller in Italy. As John Gage first identified, the information is derived from Reichard’s Itinerary of Italy, published 1818, a copy of which Turner owned (see Tate D36331; Turner Bequest CCCLXVII).1 Finberg transcribed the notes in full,2 and the inscription is repeated here with minor variations from his text:
Milan to Venice. 50 francs. dis. 4 L
 to Como 4
 to Varnese Friday Tuesday Sunday
B St del Monta 1299 – to Lyons.
P Paris to Turin by Mt Cenis – 117½ Leagues. 351 Miles
C Lyons to Turin – 243 81 L. total of 594
Paris to Milan. Genoa. 126 Lea. 378
Genoa by Simplon. 245 85 Lea total 622 to Milan
Turin to Genoa 105 Italian Miles 122 English
Genoa to Milan. 99 Italian. 83 En
Milan to Como and Isola Bella Varnese Laveno by Soriano 37 ½
Laveno Varnese Como Milan 51
Milan to Venice by Verona and Padua 183 I 135 E 25 P
Venice to Rimini by Ravenna 122 and Chiozza 2 Posts to
Milan to Bologna by Parma and Modena. 233 I. 149 English.
Bologna to Flo by Modena. 16 Post ¾ F to P by Pontrimoli
Parma to Florence by Pisa 68 I. 70 En. Bologna to F. 69 I 70 Engl
Florence to Rome by Aquapendente 176 Miles and Ronciglione
F to R Arezzo Perugia Narni Terni Civita Castellana 27 P
F to Parma. Bologna to Ancona. 52 M Ancona to Rome 172 M
Rome to Terracina 69 M. T. to Naples 57½ – 127 M
Fano to Foligno and Ro. by Tanaglia. 90 Miles 11½
The notes represent preparatory research for Turner’s first tour of Italy, which commenced at the end of July 1819. The sketchbook also contains itinerary advice from James Hakewill (1778–1843) who recommended travelling the same way as he himself had done in 1816–17, through the Simplon Pass and down the west coast to Rome and Naples, before returning home via Venice and the Tyrol (see the Introduction). Ultimately however, Turner opted to enter Italy via the Pass of Mont Cenis and proceeded first to Venice via Milan and the Italian Lakes, before continuing onto Rome via Ancona. He then visited Naples, and finally returned from Rome via Florence.
The page is also numbered ‘332’ as part of the Turner Schedule in 1854 and endorsed by the Executors of the Turner Bequest.

Nicola Moorby
March 2010

1
Gage 1987, p.49.
2
Finberg 1909, p.494.

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Notes by Turner from Reichard’s ‘Itinerary of Italy’ 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-notes-by-turner-from-reichards-itinerary-of-italy-r1138677, accessed 13 May 2024.