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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Castello del Buonconsiglio, Trento, from the Piazza Raffaello Sanzio 1833

Folio 39 Recto:
The Castello del Buonconsiglio, Trento, from the Piazza Raffaello Sanzio 1833
D31673
Turner Bequest CCCXII 39
Pencil on white laid paper, 109 x 203 mm
Partial watermark ‘C G’ (countermark)
Inscribed by C.F. Bell in black ink ‘39’ top right, ascending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCCXII – 39’ top right, ascending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The view is from Trento’s present Piazza Raffaello Sanzio, dominated by the Castello del Buonconsiglio, a fundamentally medieval fortress, with Renaissance and Baroque additions, now preserved as a museum. The imposing north end of the main part of the castle, topped by the Torre d’Augusto, high to the south-east towards the right here, is seen from a different viewpoint on folio 38 verso opposite (D31672). The right-hand side of the sketch appears jumbled, as Turner attempted to include the north front of the Palazzo Trautmannsdorf Saracini, which features a balcony over its rusticated Baroque doorway, in the foreground. He had to resort to a continuation at the top right to show the beginning of the austere Renaissance range to the right of the castellated gable immediately below.
On the left, the view ranges north up towards the Fiemme Dolomites along what is now the Via Alessandro Manzoni, where the tall turret survives at the corner; the low section between it and the bastion at the bottom centre does not survive, with Modernist school buildings now occupying that part of the site. For other views of Trento in this sketchbook and its place in Turner’s itinerary, see under folio 37 recto (D31669).

Matthew Imms
May 2019

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘The Castello del Buonconsiglio, Trento, from the Piazza Raffaello Sanzio 1833’, catalogue entry, May 2019, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, March 2023, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/the-castello-del-buonconsiglio-trento-from-the-piazza-raffaello-sanzio-r1203871, accessed 09 July 2025.