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

This study forms part of an extended panorama capturing Tivoli’s dramatic topography, which extends onto folio 31 verso opposite (D21904). It is one of a dozen consecutive works in the sketchbook depicting this subject, an identification first proposed by Finberg and later confirmed by scholars including Cecilia Powell.1 For a more detailed discussion of Turner’s views of Tivoli, and a list of relevant views in this sketchbook and from the artist’s earlier Italian tour of 1819–20, see folio 30 recto (D21901).

The geographer and Turner researcher Roland Courtot has commented further on Turner’s vantage point for this double-page panorama.2 It is one of several views captured from the north-east of the town, either on or near the road leading away from the Villa Gregoriana, curving east and then north around the Aniene gorge. From near the present-day Via Quintilio Varo, looking west towards the town, Turner surveyed this dramatic vista of waterfalls and the town perched high on its rocky plateau. The main landmark visible is the Temple of Vesta, also known as the Temple of the Sibyl, an ancient circular temple erected in the first century BC. Perched high, it overlooks the steep gorge outlined by Turner to the right. Beneath the temple is a pencil inscription that appears to read ‘Falls’.

Descending along the outer edge is Turner’s unrelated ink inscription ‘1 Louis 35 . 69 | 70’. ‘Louis’ then remained a generic term for French gold coins, so this may be a brief financial note.