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 > Albano, Nemi, Rome Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner View of the Town of Nemi from across Lake Nemi 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘View of the Town of Nemi from across Lake Nemi’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 19 Verso:
View of the Town of Nemi from across Lake Nemi 1819
D15330
Turner Bequest CLXXXII 19 a
Pencil on white wove paper, 113 x 189 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Like Lake Albano, the Lake of Nemi lies within a volcanic crater and shares its name with the largest town in the area directly overlooking the water. This sketch shows the view from the hill above the north-western shore looking towards the town of Nemi, recognisable by the circular medieval tower of the castle, Castello Ruspoli.
Turner has also made a smaller study in the bottom right-hand corner of the page which also appears to show Lake Nemi. The sketch spills over into the bottom left-hand corner of the opposite sheet see folio 20 (D15331), and is possibly a smaller version of the same view on that page.
For a general discussion of Turner’s view of Lake Nemi see folio 19 (D15329).

Nicola Moorby
May 2008

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘View of the Town of Nemi from across Lake Nemi 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2008, 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-town-of-nemi-from-across-lake-nemi-r1132625, accessed 18 April 2024.