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

Turner oriented the sketchbook vertically to compose these four sketches, apparently while in Rome. At the top of the page is a rough outline of a tower, the accompanying inscriptions difficult to interpret; the upper word appears to read ‘Neron’, possibly a misspelling of Nerone, referring to Nero. The lower inscription ‘Torre Ma[...]via’ is perhaps a reference to the Torre delle Milizie, also known as the Torre di Nerone, a medieval tower near the Forum of Trajan in Rome. Beneath is a thumbnail sketch of what appears to be a church, possibly in Rome.

The comparatively detailed sketch below has been identified by Cecilia Powell as the so-called Tomba di Nerone, or Nero’s tomb, a sepulchral monument located on the northern outskirts of Rome on the Via Cassia.1 The myth that this was Nero’s tomb was discredited in the nineteenth century, and the tomb is now understood as the tomb of proconsul Publius Vibius Marianus, rather than the Emperor Nero.2 At the bottom of the page are faint and indecipherable markings that appear to depict trees in a landscape.

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 Nicola Moorby’s introduction to the ‘First Italian Tour 1819–20’ section of the present catalogue.

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