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 > St Peter's Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Study of the Sky over Rome 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Study of the Sky over Rome’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 67 Verso:
Study of the Sky over Rome 1819
D16277
Turner Bequest CLXXXVIII 66 a
Pencil on white wove paper, 189 x 114 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘Blue’, ‘[?Brown]’, ‘Pink’, ‘Grey’ and ‘Grey’ left and centre of sky and ‘D.B’ top centre and ‘yellow C when [?Parting]’ on far right-hand side of sketch
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The purpose of this swiftly drawn sketch was to record the colours of the sky over Rome, probably at sunset. The line of the horizon includes tall stone pine trees and the silhouette of a building, and although the location has not been conclusively identified, similarities to another sketches on folios 65 and 66 (D16272 and D16274; Turner Bequest CLXXXVIII 64 and 65) suggests that Turner may have been looking across the gardens of the Villa Borghese, possibly from the Villa Medici.

Nicola Moorby
January 2009

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Study of the Sky over Rome 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, January 2009, 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-study-of-the-sky-over-rome-r1139789, accessed 05 November 2025.