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 > Milan to Venice Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Piazza delle Erbe, Verona 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Piazza delle Erbe, Verona’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 27 Recto:
The Piazza delle Erbe, Verona 1819
D14366
Turner Bequest CLXXV 27
Pencil on white wove paper, 185 x 112 mm
Partial watermark ‘Al | 18’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘5’ above left of centre and ‘8’ below right of centre, on buildings
Inscribed by John Ruskin in blue ink ‘27’ top left, ascending vertically and ‘300’ top right, ascending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CLXXV 27’ top right, ascending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The Turner scholar C.F. Bell crossed out Finberg’s vague 1909 Inventory entry ‘Towers, &c.’, writing: ‘Verona Piazza Erbe &c’.1 This identification is correct, with the Piazza delle Erbe seen from the south-east, dominated by the Torre dei Lamberti with its prominent clock and belfry on the right. Somewhat less conspicuous is the Baroque Palazzo Maffei in the distance at the north-west end of the square.
To accommodate the looming tower, the drawing was made with the page turned vertically, necessitating a disjointed continuation above the main view to include the medieval Torre del Gardello beside the Palazzo Maffei and the buildings leading to it along the south-west side of the square. Compare the watercolour view of about 1826–7 by Richard Parkes Bonington (Tate T08146).
For other views of the arena and the city, see under see under folio 25 recto (D14363).
1
Undated MS note by C.F. Bell (died 1966) in copy of Finberg 1909, Tate Britain Prints and Drawings Room, I, p.512.
Verso:
Blank

Matthew Imms
March 2017

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘The Piazza delle Erbe, Verona 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, March 2017, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, July 2017, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-the-piazza-delle-erbe-verona-r1186479, accessed 17 June 2025.