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

Turner’s exploration of Tivoli included a large number of landscape sketches drawn from the river valley to the north. This sketch depicts a distant view of the town from the floor of the valley looking east. Amongst the buildings silhouetted along the horizon can be seen, from right to left, the Rocca Pia, the Villa d’Este, the campanile of the Cathedral (Duomo) of San Lorenzo, and the medieval watch-tower above the cascatelli (or cascatelle), the lesser cascades of the River Aniene. Turner’s viewpoint appears to be on the banks of the river beside a tower and a roadside altar. There is a separate landscape sketch in the top right-hand corner of the page which may depict the view looking in the opposite direction.