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

The subject of this drawing is the southern façade of the Arch of Constantine with the Colosseum beyond. Dating from the fourth century AD, the Arch of Constantine was built to celebrate the victory of the Emperor Constantine over his co-ruler Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge. Unlike the nearby Arches of Titus and Septimius Severus, it had been fully excavated and restored by 1804, and Turner was therefore able to experience it as it was meant to be seen; an impressive free-standing structure standing at the top of the Via di San Gregorio.1 The monument was renowned for the well-preserved state of the decorations adorning the exterior, many of which were taken from other buildings dedicated to earlier emperors. Turner’s study provides a careful and methodical record of those bas-reliefs and their placement across the Arch. It also incorporates a copy, albeit slightly inaccurate, of the Latin inscription from the attic. Turner’s transcription reads:

The actual text is thus:

Visible through the left side arch of the monument is the remains of the Meta Sudans, a conical fountain dating from the first century AD. It was demolished in 1936 by Mussolini to enable traffic to circle the Colosseum but the excavated foundations can still be seen today.

This is Turner’s only detailed survey of the northern face of the Arch. He did, however, make separate sketches of the various bas-reliefs which cover the surface of the southern face, the ends and the inner sides underneath the crossings, see the St Peter’s sketchbook (Tate D16190 and D16194–6; Turner Bequest CLXXXVIII 18 and 20–21 and Tate D17158; Turner Bequest CXCV a H). There are no written notations on these drawings indicating which part of the structure they relate to, so Turner would have had to refer to this image to make sense of them. Further, more general studies featuring the Arch in relation to its surroundings can be found on other pages within this sketchbook (see Tate D16354, D16367, D16389; Turner Bequest CLXXXIX 28, 40, 58) and within the Albano, Nemi, Rome sketchbook (Tate D15397; Turner Bequest CLXXXII 53), the St Peter’s sketchbook (Tate D16197; Turner Bequest CLXXXVIII 2) and the Smaller Roman C. Studies sketchbook (Tate D16396, D16398, D16416, D16455; Turner Bequest CXC 2, 4, 15a, 41). Despite this large body of visual material, Turner only made one significant attempt to feature the Arch as a subject; an unfinished oil painting, The Arch of Constantine, Rome circa 1835 (Tate, N02066).2

Like many drawings within this sketchbook, the composition has been executed in pencil over a washed grey background and Turner has created small areas of pale highlights by rubbing through to the white paper beneath. As Cecilia Powell has discussed, the compositional device of placing the Arch of Constantine diagonally to the picture plane recalls Giovanni Battista Piranesi’s methods from the famous series of etchings, the Vedute di Roma.3 Turner’s chosen view showing the Arch against the wider backdrop of the Colosseum echoes Piranesi’s print, Veduta dell’Arco di Costantine, e dell’Anfiteatro Flavio detto il Colosseo.4 However, the close viewpoint with the monument filling the page at an oblique angle is more reminiscent of the plate depicting the Arch of Septimius Severus,5 or a more focused illustration of the Arch of Constantine from the other side.6 Powell has suggested that Turner may also have seen the watercolour by Louis Ducros (1748–1810) in the collection of Sir Richard Colt Hoare at Stourhead, The Arch of Constatine (National Trust), and indeed the design is almost identical.7

Verso:

Blank, except for grey watercolour wash.