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 > Italian Guide Book Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Twelve Copies of Engravings after John 'Warwick' Smith from 'Select Views in Italy' c.1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Twelve Copies of Engravings after John 'Warwick' Smith from 'Select Views in Italy'’ c.1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 18 Recto:
Twelve Copies of Engravings after John ‘Warwick’ Smith from ‘Select Views in Italy’ circa 1819
D13964
Turner Bequest CLXXII 18
Pen and black ink on white wove paper, 155 x 99 mm
Inscribed by the artist in black ink with titles and details of views (see main catalogue entry)
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘18’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CLXXII 18’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This page is one of a series containing small pen-and-ink sketches of topographical Italian views. As Finberg first identified, these are copies of the engraved plates in John Smith, William Byrne and John Emes’s, Select Views in Italy, published in two volumes between 1792–9. The images derive from the following compositions (in sequence left to right and top to bottom):
i
Perugia, drawn by John ‘Warwick’ Smith and engraved by Benjamin Thomas Pouncy. Inscribed by the artist in black ink ‘Perugia’ bottom right.1
ii
Assisi, drawn by John ‘Warwick’ Smith and engraved by William Byrne.2 Inscribed by the artist in black ink ‘Assisi’ bottom centre.
iii
Temple of Clitumnus, drawn by John ‘Warwick’ Smith from a sketch by Sir Richard Colt Hoare and engraved by Benjamin Thomas Pouncy.3 Inscribed by the artist in black ink ‘Temple of Clitumnus’ bottom centre.
iv
Castle of Spoleto, drawn by John ‘Warwick’ Smith from a sketch by Sir Richard Colt Hoare and engraved by Benjamin Thomas Pouncy.4 Inscribed by the artist in black ink ‘Spoleto’ bottom centre.
v
The Approach to the Cascade of Terni, drawn by John ‘Warwick’ Smith and engraved by John Emes.5 Inscribed by the artist in black ink ‘Approach to the Fall of Terni’ bottom centre.
vi
Cascade of Terni, drawn by John ‘Warwick’ Smith and engraved by William Byrne and Benjamin Thomas Pouncy.6 Inscribed by the artist in black ink ‘Fall of Terni’ bottom centre.
vii
The Lake of Piede Lugo, drawn by John ‘Warwick’ Smith and engraved by Benjamin Thomas Pouncy.7 Inscribed by the artist in black ink ‘Lake of Piede Lugo’ bottom centre and right.
viii
The Bridge of Augustus at Narni, drawn by John ‘Warwick’ Smith and engraved by John Landseer.8 Inscribed by the artist in black ink ‘B. Agustus of Narni’ bottom left and centre.
ix
Modern Bridge at Narni, drawn by John ‘Warwick’ Smith and engraved by Benjamin Thomas Pouncy.9 Inscribed by the artist in black ink ‘Narni’ bottom right
x
Borghetto and Ponte Felice, drawn by John ‘Warwick’ Smith and engraved by Benjamin Thomas Pouncy.10 Inscribed by the artist in black ink ‘Borghetto and Ponte Felice’ bottom centre and right
xi
Civita Castellana, drawn by John ‘Warwick’ Smith and engraved by John Landseer.11 Inscribed by the artist in black ink ‘Civita Catellana’ bottom centre.
xii
Distant View of St Peter’s and the Vatican, drawn by John ‘Warwick’ Smith and engraved by William Byrne and Benjamin Thomas Pouncy.12 Inscribed by the artist in black ink ‘Rome’ bottom left.
Turner ignored or missed the correct sequence of the plates here, omitting to make a copy from Plate 22, Village near Castello Nuovo, see folio 19 verso (D13967).
Powell has corrected Carandente’s erroneous assumption that these sketches were made during Turner’s 1819 tour and that therefore the artist visited Perugia and Assisi on the way to Rome.13 For a general discussion of Turner’s sketches from Select Views see the introduction to the sketchbook.

Nicola Moorby
July 2008

1
John Smith, William Byrne and John Emes, Select Views in Italy with Topographical and Historical Descriptions in English and French, vol.I, London 1792, pl.11.
2
Ibid., pl.12.
3
Ibid., pl.13.
4
Ibid., pl.14.
5
Ibid., pl.15.
6
Ibid., pl.16.
7
Ibid., pl.17.
8
Ibid., pl.18.
9
Ibid., pl.19.
10
Ibid., pl.20.
11
Ibid., pl.21.
12
Ibid., pl.23.
13
Carandente 1968, p.17; Powell 1984, p.469 note 138.

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Twelve Copies of Engravings after John ‘Warwick’ Smith from ‘Select Views in Italy’ c.1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, July 2008, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-twelve-copies-of-engravings-after-john-warwick-smith-from-r1138785, accessed 06 May 2025.