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 > Albano, Nemi, Rome Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Ruins on the Palatine Hill, Rome 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Ruins on the Palatine Hill, Rome’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 51 Recto:
Ruins on the Palatine Hill, Rome 1819
D15391
Turner Bequest CLXXXII 50
Pencil on white wove paper, 113 x 189 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘Palace of the Caesar’ bottom left
Inscribed by John Ruskin in blue ink ‘50’ top right and ‘301’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CLXXXII 50’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This sketch, framed by an arched opening shows part of the ruins on the Palatine Hill. The name ‘Palatine’ actually supplied the derivation of the Latin word for ‘palace’ and reflects the dominant presence in this area of a number of imperial residences, including the palaces of Augustus, Tiberius and Domitian, the latter of which was extended by Septimius Severus. All Roman emperors took the names Caesar and Augustus, hence Turner’s inscription, ‘Palace of the Caesar[s]’. The exact viewpoint is not identified but the artist may have drawn this study looking across the hill towards the opposite end of the complex of remains. Alternatively it may be a view from the gallery of the nearby Colosseum.
On the far left-hand side of the page is the continuation of the sketch from the opposite sheet of the double-page spread, a view of the Forum from the Palatine Hill, see folio 50 verso (D15391; Turner Bequest CLXXXII 49a).

Nicola Moorby
May 2008

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Ruins on the Palatine Hill, Rome 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2008, 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-ruins-on-the-palatine-hill-rome-r1132686, accessed 23 April 2024.