J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1836-47 Modern painter > Venice, Austria and Southern Germany ... > Venice and Botzen Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Palazzo Grimani on the Grand Canal, Venice, with the Rialto Bridge in the Distance 1840

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Palazzo Grimani on the Grand Canal, Venice, with the Rialto Bridge in the Distance’ 1840
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 57 Recto:
The Palazzo Grimani on the Grand Canal, Venice, with the Rialto Bridge in the Distance 1840
D31902
Turner Bequest CCCXIII 57
Pencil on cream wove paper, 123 x 173 mm
Partial watermark ‘J. Wha’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Grimani’ towards bottom right
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘57’ top right, ascending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCCXIII – 57’ top right, ascending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This loose, rapid sketch of a familiar scene was made with the page turned horizontally. The viewpoint is the north side of the Grand Canal, just west of the Palazzo Papadopoli on the left, with its prominent twin obelisks; the Rialto Bridge and the campanile of San Bartolomeo are in the distance, with only a loose, wavy line to indicate the palaces on the south side before the schematically rendered bulk of the Palazzo Grimani, labelled towards the right opposite the Papadopoli, with the smaller Palazzo Corner Contarini dei Cavalli on its near side.
Compare the views from nearer the south side in two contemporary colour studies (Tate D32211–D32212; Turner Bequest CCCXVII 26, 27), and the much more detailed pencil view from that side in the 1819 Milan to Venice sketchbook (Tate D14455–D14456; Turner Bequest CLXXV 73, 74).
There is a view down the Rio di San Luca, off the Grand Canal between the Grimani and Palazzo Corner Contarini dei Cavalli palaces, on the verso (D31903).

Matthew Imms
September 2018

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘The Palazzo Grimani on the Grand Canal, Venice, with the Rialto Bridge in the Distance 1840 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2018, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2019, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-the-palazzo-grimani-on-the-grand-canal-venice-with-the-r1196797, accessed 25 April 2024.