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

The Turner scholar C.F. Bell annotated Finberg’s 1909 Inventory entry (‘The Piazzetta, with St. Mark’s on the left’): ‘Campanile on right’.1 The page’s title was amended by Ian Warrell to ‘The Western Façade of San Marco, with the Doge’s Palace and the Loggetta of the Campanile, from the Piazza’ in 2003, in connection with his concurrent Turner and Venice exhibition at Tate Britain.2 The drawing was made with the page turned horizontally.

The view is from the north side of St Mark’s Square near the Torre dell’Orologio, looking south-south-east from this side of the central flagpole of three in the Piazza outside the west front of the basilica, with its bronze base and steps in the foreground to the right of centre. The lower stages of the campanile are seen towards the right, with the Loggetta below its oblique east side. In the distance, flanking the flagpoles, are the columns on the Molo at the far end of the Piazzetta, with the dome and campanile of San Giorgio Maggiore across the Bacino beyond.

The Piazzetta front of the Palazzo Ducale (Doge’s Palace) is left of centre, with the south-western corner of the basilica in the foreground. The two renowned buildings are rendered in some detail, but compare the more refined study in the 1819 Milan to Venice sketchbook (Tate D14392; Turner Bequest CLXXV 41a), albeit with the church largely eclipsing the palace. On the present occasion, despite the somewhat incoherent sequence of numbers and letters below corresponding clusters of columns, he seems rather cursory in his attention to the complex façade, apparently making at least two attempts to align the deeply recessed arches of the portals with adjacent features. The addition of relatively rare diagonal hatching does little to resolve the issue. Folio 54 verso (D32032) shows clearer details of the west front, and there are a few views inside (see under folio 51 verso; D32026).

See under folio 44 verso opposite (D32012), a similar prospect from a little to the right and perhaps slightly further back, for other views. Folios 44 recto–46 verso (D32011–D32016) all show views in the vicinity. For this sketchbook’s general sequence, including Hardy George’s broad overview,3 see its Introduction.