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

As identified by Cecilia Powell, this street view in Siena is dominated by the Loggia dei Mercanti.1 Constructed in the fifteenth century, the building is a hybrid of Gothic and Renaissance styles, its design the joint endeavour of two architects, Sano di Matteo and Pietro del Minella.2 Traditionally, the building served as the headquarters of the Arte della Mercanzia, the city’s guild of citizen merchants. The front façade has three decorated arches, rendered with characteristic economy. Detailing is reserved for the corner of the building, which indicates the overall scheme. As such, only the nearest pillars are clearly defined, with Turner taking care to outline the capitals and tabernacles with statues of saints.

Turner’s vantage point for this study was near the central Piazza del Campo, at a point of intersection known as the Croce del Travaglio, where three historic thoroughfares connect. From the Via di Città, he looked north-east to where the street branches into the Banchi di Sotto to the right and the Via Banchi di Sopra to the left. A more precise location is provided by Turner’s lower inscription, ‘Vicolo di S. Paolo’, referring to the narrow lane that leads away from the Via di Città and runs parallel to the Loggia dei Mercanti. To the right of the corner pillar is a marble bench embellished with a relief carving of a wolf suckling the twins Romulus and Remus, the mythical founders of Rome. This detail accounts for Turner’s accompanying inscription ‘Rem’. A further inscription to the right, ‘Draper’, presumably describes the function of the corner building to the right.

For further commentary on Turner’s first visit to Siena in 1828, together with a list of relevant works in the sketchbook, see under folio 10 verso (D21607).