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

The panorama in the upper section of this page depicts Tivoli, as first identified by Finberg in his 1909 Inventory of the Bequest, and later confirmed by scholars including Cecilia Powell.1 It is one of a dozen consecutive works in the sketchbook depicting this hilltop town north-east of Rome, popular among artists and grand tourists for its ancient theatres, temples and villas. 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).

As identified by the geographer and Turner researcher Roland Courtot, this 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.2 Looking westwards towards Tivoli, Turner sketched the sloping topography of the Aniene valley, with trees loosely outlined in the foreground and a road curving into the foreground. Towards the top-left corner is the Temple of Vesta, also known as the Temple of the Sibyl, an ancient circular temple erected in the first century BC. This study is inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation.

Beneath, inscribed in pencil following the sketchbook’s foliation, is an unknown address, ‘Garofolini | Via Porta [?Tinciana]’, together with an ink inscription ‘5 ¼ . 7 ½’.