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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Part of a View of Florence from Villa Palmieri, Fiesole 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 78 Recto:
Part of a View of Florence from Villa Palmieri, Fiesole 1819
D16616
Turner Bequest CXCI 78
Pencil on white wove paper, 113 x 189 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘V Palmeri’ bottom left
Stamped in black ‘CXCI 78’ top left, inverted
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
As Turner’s inscription in the bottom left-hand corner indicates, the viewpoint for this panoramic sketch of Florence and the surrounding countryside is the Villa Palmieri in Fiesole. The artist appears to be standing in or near the south-facing terraced gardens looking along the winding course of the River Mugnone towards the city. The composition continues on the opposite sheet of the double-page spread, see folio 77 verso (D16615), but visible on this side is the hill of Fiesole (left) and silhouetted along the horizon, the tower of the Palazzo Vecchio in the centre of Florence (right).
Further sketches from Fiesole can be found on folios 30 verso, 31, 74–77, 78 verso–79 verso, 84 (D16542, D16543, D16608–D16614, D16617–D16619, D16627).

Nicola Moorby
February 2011

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Part of a View of Florence from Villa Palmieri, Fiesole 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, February 2011, 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-part-of-a-view-of-florence-from-villa-palmieri-fiesole-r1138509, accessed 29 March 2024.