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 > Small Roman Colour Studies Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner ?View outside the City Walls, Rome 1819

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘?View outside the City Walls, Rome’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 68 Recto:
?View outside the City Walls, Rome 1819
D16440
Turner Bequest CXC 31
Pencil and grey watercolour wash on white wove paper, 130 x 255 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘Snow’ above horizon on left and ‘Snow’ above horizon on far right
Inscribed by ?John Ruskin in red ink ‘31’ top right and by an unknown hand in pencil ‘31’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CXC 31’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The subject of this sketch is not conclusively identified although it appears to depict a view on the outskirts of Rome with the city walls stretching across the left, leading the eye of the viewer towards and the line of snow-covered mountains in the far distance. Like many drawings within this sketchbook, the composition has been executed over a washed grey background, although the roughness of draughtsmanship suggests that it was down with great speed, or possibly from a moving carriage.

Nicola Moorby
June 2009

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘?View outside the City Walls, Rome 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, June 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-outside-the-city-walls-rome-r1132585, accessed 25 April 2024.