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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > First Italian Tour 1819-20 > Rome: Colour Studies Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner View of the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill, Rome, from San Gregorio Magno al Celio 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘View of the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill, Rome, from San Gregorio Magno al Celio’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
View of the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill, Rome, from San Gregorio Magno al Celio 1819
D16335
Turner Bequest CLXXXIX 9
Pencil on white wove ‘Whatman’ paper, 231 x 368 mm
Stamped in black ‘CLXXXIX 9’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This sketch depicts a view of the Colosseum seen from the south. Turner appears to have been standing on the steps of the Church of San Gregorio Magno al Celio. From this viewpoint, the scale and shape of the great amphitheatre could be seen to good advantage. The area of ground on the left is the eastern slope of the Palatine Hill which is topped by the two small churches of San Bonaventura and San Sebastiano al Palatino. At the base of the hill is a surviving section of the Aqua Claudia and the road running directly past these arches towards the Arch of Constantine (only faintly indicated) is the Via San Gregorio. In the background to the immediate left of the Colosseum is the Torre dei Margani and San Pietro in Vincoli, whilst on the far left is the Temple of Vesta and Roma and the bell-tower of Santa Francesca Romana from the eastern end of the Forum.
Similar related views can be found on other sheets within this sketchbook (see D16345, D16348, D16369; Turner Bequest CLXXXIX 19, 22, 42). Furthermore, a more close-up coloured study of the Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine from the Via San Gregorio can be found in the Small Roman C. Studies sketchbook (Tate D16398; Turner Bequest CXC 4).
Verso:
?Blank (pasted to mount).

Nicola Moorby
July 2009

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘View of the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill, Rome, from San Gregorio Magno al Celio 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, July 2009, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-view-of-the-colosseum-and-the-palatine-hill-rome-from-san-r1132458, accessed 24 April 2024.