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

As Cecilia Powell first identified, the subject of these three sketches is the so-called Tomb of the Horatii and Curiatii, an ancient monument which stands on the edge of the road between Albano and Ariccia. The tomb, originally comprised of five conical towers on a square peperino base, was popularly attributed to the mythical brothers of the Horatii and Curiatti who fought each other to avoid war between Rome and Alba Longa, although other scholars have ascribed it to Pompey the Great, to Aruns, son of Porsena, or to the Arruntii family of Albano.1 Turner has studied the ruin from a variety of angles including the adjacent church of Santa Maria della Stella. A further related sketch can be found in the Albano, Nemi, Rome sketchbook (see Tate D15454; Turner Bequest CLXXXII 82).

The unusual architectural design of the tomb made it an attractive motif for artists and Turner may have been familiar with images of it by James Hakewill (1778–1843) and Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720–1778).2 It was also the subject of a couple of copies, probably after John Robert Cozens (1752–1797), made by Turner and Thomas Girtin (1775–1802) for Dr Monro’s Album of Italian Views, 1794–6 (see Tate D36420 and D36440; Turner Bequest CCCLXXIII 7 and 27).