Joseph Mallord William Turner The Colosseum and the Basilica of Constantine from the Palatine Hill, Rome 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner,
The Colosseum and the Basilica of Constantine from the Palatine Hill, Rome
1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
The Colosseum and the Basilica of Constantine from the Palatine Hill, Rome 1819
D16346
Turner Bequest CLXXXIX 20
Turner Bequest CLXXXIX 20
Pencil, watercolour, gouache and grey watercolour wash on white wove ‘Valleyfield’ paper, 227 x 369 mm
Stamped in black ‘CLXXXIX 20’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Exhibition history
1904
National Gallery, London, various dates to at least 1904 (272).
1959
[Display of Watercolours from the Turner Bequest], Tate Gallery, London, June/July 1959–January 1965 (no catalogue).
1965
[Display of watercolours from the Turner Bequest], Tate Gallery, London, –?March 1965 (no catalogue).
1972
J.M.W. Turner: Gemälde Aquarelle, Nationalgalerie Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin, September–November 1972 (60, reproduced).
1973
Turner {1775 / 1851}: desenhos, aguarelas e óleos / Drawings, Watercolours and Oil Paintings, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon, June–July 1973 (21, reproduced).
1975
Turner in the British Museum: Drawings and Watercolours, British Museum, London, May 1975–February 1976 (66, reproduced, as ‘Rome: The Basilica of Constantine and the Colosseum’).
1978
¿¿¿¿¿¿, Shipka Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria, April–?May 1978, Belgrade, Serbia [former Yugoslavia], May 1978, Muzeul de Arte al RS [Republica Socialista] Romania, Bucharest, June–July 1978 (20).
1981
J.M.W. Turner (1775–1851) / ¿¿.¿.G. ¿e¿¿e¿ (1775–1851), National Pinakothiki, Athens, January–March 1981 (17, reproduced in colour).
1981
Turner’s First Visit to Italy, 1819: Watercolours from the Turner Bequest, Loaned by the British Museum, Tate Gallery, London, April–October 1981 (no catalogue).
1983
J.M.W. Turner: Dibujos y acuarelas del Museo Británico, exhibition catalogue, Museo del Prado, Madrid, February–March 1983 (29 reproduced).
2008
Turner e l’Italia/Turner and Italy, Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara, November 2008–February 2009, National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, March–June 2009 (46, reproduced in colour).
2009
Turner és Itália, Szépmuvészeti Múzeum, Budapest, July–October 2009 (no number, reproduced).
References
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.272, pp.378, 622, as ‘Rome: The Colosseum and Basilica of Constantine’.
1905
W[illiam] L[ionel] Wyllie, J.M.W. Turner, London 1905, reproduced opposite p.66, as ‘Rome, Basilica of Constantine and Coliseum’.
1909
A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, London 1909, vol.I, p.562, as ‘The Colosseum and Basilica of Constantine. Pencil and water colour. 272, N.G.’.
1920
D[ugald] S[utherland] MacColl, National Gallery, Millbank: Catalogue: Turner Collection, London 1920, p.87.
1925
Thomas Ashby, Turner’s Visions of Rome, London and New York 1925, p.26, reproduced between pp.18–19 pl.16, as ‘The Colosseum and Basilica of Constantine’.
1972
Werner Haftmann, Andrew Wilton, Henning Bock and others, J.M.W. Turner: Gemälde Aquarelle, exhibition catalogue, Nationalgalerie Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin, September–November 1972, p.74, no.60, reproduced p.62 Abb.14, as ‘Rom, das Colosseum und die Konstantinsbasilika’.
1973
Norman Reid, Andrew Wilton and Luke Herrmann, Turner {1775 / 1851}: desenhos, aguarelas e óleos / Drawings, Watercolours and Oil Paintings, exhibition catalogue, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon 1973, no.21 reproduced, as ‘View of Rome with the Basilica of Constantine and the Colosseum’.
1975
Luke Herrmann, Turner: Paintings, Watercolours, Prints & Drawings, London 1975, pp.[29], 231, reproduced p.147 pl.98, as ‘View in Rome with the Basilica of Constantine and the Colosseum’.
1975
Andrew Wilton, Turner in the British Museum: Drawings and Watercolours, exhibition catalogue, British Museum, London 1975, no.66, p.53, reproduced, as ‘Rome: The Basilica of Constantine and the Colosseum’.
1981
William Gaunt and Robin Hamlyn, Turner, revised ed., Oxford 1981, p.[58] reproduced fig.23, as ‘Rome: The Basilica of Constantine and the Colosseum’.
1981
Dimitrios Papastamos, John Gage and Lindsay Stainton, J.M.W. Turner (1775–1851) / ¿¿.¿.G. ¿e¿¿e¿ (1775–1851), exhibition catalogue, National Pinakothiki, Athens 1981, no.17, pp.38, 43, reproduced in colour, p.[84], as ‘Rome: the basilica of Constantine and the Colosseum’.
1983
Lindsay Stainton and Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: Dibujos y acuarelas del Museo Británico, exhibition catalogue, Museo del Prado, Madrid 1983, no.29, p.50, reproduced, as ‘Roma: la Basilica de Constantino y el Coliseo’.
1984
Cecilia Powell, ‘Turner on Classic Ground: His Visits to Central and Southern Italy and Related Paintings and Drawings’, unpublished Ph.D thesis, Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London 1984, p.122, reproduced pl.67, as ‘The Basilica of Constantine, S. Francesca Romana, the Arch of Titus and the Colosseum’.
1987
Cecilia Powell, Turner in the South: Rome, Naples, Florence, New Haven and London 1987, p.49, reproduced pl.57, as ‘The Basilica of Constantine, S. Francesca Romana, the Arch of Titus and the Colosseum’.
1994
William Gaunt and Robin Hamlyn, Turner, London 1994, p.58 reproduced fig.23, as ‘Rome: The Basilica of Constantine and the Colosseum’.
2008
James Hamilton, Nicola Moorby, Christopher Baker and others, Turner e l’Italia, exhibition catalogue, Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara 2008, no.46, pp.49, 102, 105 note 28, [179], 187, reproduced in colour, as ‘Il Colosseo e la Basilica di Constantino’.
2009
James Hamilton, Nicola Moorby, Christopher Baker and others, Turner & Italy, exhibition catalogue, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh 2009, pp.49, 115, 155 note 29, reproduced in colour pl.56 p.[51], as ‘The Colosseum and the Basilica of Constantine’.
2009
Christopher Baker and James Hamilton, Turner és Itália, exhibition catalogue, Szépmuvészeti Múzeum, Budapest 2009, p.54, reproduced p.[51], fig.52.
The Palatine Hill was one of the most popular vantage points in Rome and Turner made a large number of studies recording views of the city seen in all directions. This sketch depicts the prospect seen from the Farnese Gardens (Orti Farnesina) near the sixteenth-century aviaries on the northern side of the hill. Turner’s view looks north-east across the Forum towards the Colosseum which dominates the right-hand side of the compostion. On the far left are the vast remains of the Basilica of Constantine and Maxentius, whilst in between these two monuments are, from left to right: the Torre dei Margani, near San Pietro in Vincoli; the church and campanile of Santa Francesca Romana; in the far distance, the two domes of Santa Maria Maggiore; in the middle distance, the Arch of Titus; and finally the Torre dei Capocci and the Baths of Trajan, on the Esquiline Hill. In the immediate foreground, Turner has faintly sketched trees and architectural remains from the Farnese Gardens. The design is similar to one drawn by James Hakewill in 1817, Rome. Temple of Peace from the Orti Farnesina (British School at Rome) which Turner would have undoubtedly known from his work on Hakewill’s Picturesque Tour, just before his 1819 trip to Rome.1
Like many drawings within the Rome C. Studies sketchbook, the composition has been executed over a washed grey background. Turner started with a basic outline in pencil before partially developing the scene in watercolour. The colour he has added is naturalistic and local, and largely confined to the central line of the horizon. Highlights have been added using white gouache. Related views can be found on other pages from this book (see Tate D16356, D16369, D16382, D16394; Turner Bequest CLXXXIX 30, 42, 53, 62a).
Verso:
Blank, except for traces of watercolour; inscribed by an unknown hand in pencil ‘20’ bottom centre right, and stamped in black ‘CLXXXIX 20’ bottom centre.
Nicola Moorby
July 2009
How to cite
Nicola Moorby, ‘The Colosseum and the Basilica of Constantine from the Palatine Hill, 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