Joseph Mallord William Turner The Colosseum and Santi Giovanni e Paolo from the Palatine, Rome 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 43 Verso:
The Colosseum and Santi Giovanni e Paolo from the Palatine, Rome 1819
D16371
Turner Bequest CLXXXIX 43 a
Turner Bequest CLXXXIX 43 a
Pencil and watercolour on white wove paper, 229 x 368 mm
Inscribed by an unknown hand in black pen and ink ‘60’ encircled, bottom right
Inscribed by an unknown hand in black pen and ink ‘60’ encircled, bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Exhibition history
1878
[Oxford Loan Collection], University of Oxford, 1878–1916 (103 and 26).
References
1878
Catalogue of Sketches by Turner Lent by The Trustees of the National Gallery to the Ruskin Drawing School, Oxford, London 1878, nos.103 (1st edition), 26 (2nd edition), as ‘Coliseum’.
1904
E.T. Cook and Alexander Wedderburn (eds.), Library Edition: The Works of John Ruskin: Volume XIII: Turner: The Harbours of England; Catalogues and Notes, London 1904, no.26, p.562, as ‘Rome. The Arch of Titus (Coliseum on back)’.
1909
A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, London 1909, vol.I, p.563, as ‘The Colosseum, &c. Pencil, on the white side of leaf, with commencement of water colour (shadows on Colosseum). Oxford, 103–26.’.
2008
Nicola Moorby, ‘Un tesoro italiano: i taccuini di Turner’, in James Hamilton, Nicola Moorby, Christopher Baker and others, Turner e l’Italia, exhibition catalogue, Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara 2008, pp.102, 105 note 28.
2009
Nicola Moorby, ‘An Italian Treasury: Turner’s sketchbooks’, in James Hamilton, Nicola Moorby, Christopher Baker and others, Turner & Italy, exhibition catalogue, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh 2009, pp.115, 155 note 29.
The Palatine Hill was one of the most popular vantage points in Rome and Turner made a large number of studies from the location, recording views of the city seen in all directions. This sketch depicts the panoramic prospect seen from the eastern side, near the Domus Augustana. On the left is the Colosseum and in the foreground are parts of the ruins of the Palatine including a surviving section of the Claudian Aqueduct. The most detailed part of the drawing is the Caelian Hill on the right. Here Turner has carefully documented an accurate description of the topography including the rounded apse and bell-tower of the Church of San Giovanni e Paolo, the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano in the distance beyond, and, on the far right-hand side of the page, a partial view of the façade of San Gregorio Magno al Celio. Although the composition has been executed almost entirely in pencil, Turner has added small touches of blue and grey watercolour to the Colosseum, giving it the beginnings of some tonal depth.
Similar related views can be found on folio 54 verso (D16384) and two other coloured studies now detached from this sketchbook (D16345, D16366; CLXXXIX 19, 39). Another view of San Giovanni e Paolo seen from a more southerly location also appears in the bottom right-hand corner of another sheet (D16348; CLXXXIX 22).
Nicola Moorby
July 2009
How to cite
Nicola Moorby, ‘The Colosseum and Santi Giovanni e Paolo from the Palatine, Rome 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, July 2009, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www