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 > Ancona to Rome Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Cascata delle Marmore and the Valley of the Nar, from the Belvedere Superiore 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Cascata delle Marmore and the Valley of the Nar, from the Belvedere Superiore’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 46 Recto:
The Cascata delle Marmore and the Valley of the Nar, from the Belvedere Superiore 1819
D14742
Turner Bequest CLXXVII 46
Pencil on white wove paper, 110 x 186 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘46’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CLXXVII 46’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
At Terni, Turner made a short detour from his route in order to visit the nearby Falls, one of the main highlights of the journey between Ancona and Rome. An entirely man-made phenomenon, this impressive waterfall was created by the ancient Romans who diverted the course of the River Velino so that the waters descended into the Nera valley below in three successive stages. The whiteness of the resulting spray led to the popular appellation the ‘Cascata delle Marmore’, or Waterfall of Marble. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the Falls represented one of the most popular tourist destinations in Italy outside of Rome. 1 For a full discussion see folio 55 verso (D14760).
The cascading waters could be viewed from several different locations. This sketch, continued on the opposite sheet of the double-page spread, see folio 45 verso (D14741), depicts the top of the waterfall, a viewpoint was known as the Belvedere Superiore. In 1781, Pope Pius VI built a small stone hut on a projecting spur of rock almost level with the brink of the summit to facilitate the viewing experience for the increasing numbers of tourists. The hut can be seen in the middle foreground. The panorama continues on the opposite side with the view looking north-east down the Valley of the Nar. Further drawings can be found on folios 46 verso (D14743), 50 verso–51 (D14751–2) and 51 verso (D14753).

Nicola Moorby
November 2008

1
Today the waters are diverted for use in a hydroelectric power plant and so the falls are only ‘turned on’ intermittently for the benefit of tourists, see http://www.marmore.it/document.php?id=14, accessed November 2008.

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘The Cascata delle Marmore and the Valley of the Nar, from the Belvedere Superiore 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, November 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-the-cascata-delle-marmore-and-the-valley-of-the-nar-from-the-r1138905, accessed 01 April 2026.