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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Second Italian Tour 1828-9 > Viterbo and Ronciglione Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner View of Rome: The Arches of Constantine and Titus, the Meta Sudans, the Temple of Venus and Rome, and the Colosseum c.1829-9

Image 1 of 2
  • Enhanced image
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘View of Rome: The Arches of Constantine and Titus, the Meta Sudans, the Temple of Venus and Rome, and the Colosseum’ c.1829-9
Folio 33 Recto:
Panoramic View of Rome, with the Arches of Constantine and Titus, and the Temple of Venus and Rome 1828–9
D21825
Turner Bequest CCXXXVI 33
Pencil on white wove paper, 125 x 171 mm
Inscribed in blue ink by John Ruskin ‘33’ bottom left, upside down, and ‘173’ top left, upside down
Stamped in black ‘CCXXXVI 33’ top left, upside down
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Inverted relative to sketchbook’s foliation, this study forms part of a wider panorama of Rome, which continues on folio 32 verso (D21824) opposite. Whereas the subject of the opposite page is the Colosseum, captured from the western side, the present view contains three further monuments from classical antiquity. To the far left is the eastern façade of the Arch of Constantine, a subject Turner revisited several years later in an oil painting of c.1835 (Tate N02066).1 For Turner’s depictions of this subject from his earlier tour of Italy in 1819–20, see Nicola Moorby’s catalogue entry in the Small Roman Colour Studies sketchbook (Tate D16398; Turner Bequest CXC 4). In the present view, the monumental scale of the structure is emphasised by the two cloaked figures to the right. In the distance is the south-eastern façade of the Arch of Titus.
Dominating the right half of the page is the ruined Temple of Venus and Rome. The east-facing apse of Venus, with its coffered ceiling, is shown exposed to the elements. Visible beyond is the bell tower of the Basilica of Santa Francesca Romana. A comparable view of this subject can be found in Turner’s Small Roman Colour Studies sketchbook of 1819; see the relevant entry by Moorby (Tate D16421; Turner Bequest CXC 19). In the foreground, situated between the Colosseum (depicted on the page opposite) and the Temple of Venus and Rome, is the Meta Sudans, an ancient Roman fountain. Originally of conical shape, it consisted of a brick and concrete core faced with marble. What remained of the monument was demolished in the 1930s.2
For further commentary on Turner’s visit to Rome in 1828–9, and a list of relevant views in the present sketchbook and the Rome to Rimini sketchbook of the same tour, see under folio 23 recto (D21809). Turner’s relatively limited study of Rome during this tour stands in stark contrast to his prolific exploration in 1819–20; nine sketchbooks from this earlier period contain views and studies relating to Rome and the surrounding campagna: see Moorby’s introduction to the ‘First Italian Tour 1819–20’ section of the present catalogue.

Hannah Kaspar
December 2024

1
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984, p.277 no.438, pl.441 (colour).
2
‘Meta Sudans’, Colosseum Rome Tickets, accessed 30 July 2024, https://colosseumrometickets.com/meta-sudans/.

How to cite

Hannah Kaspar, ‘Panoramic View of Rome, with the Arches of Constantine and Titus, and the Temple of Venus and Rome 1828–9’, catalogue entry, December 2024, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, February 2025, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/panoramic-view-of-rome-with-the-arches-of-constantine-and-titus-and-the-temple-of-venus-r1210593, accessed 14 May 2025.