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 > Tivoli Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner View of Tivoli and Monte Catillo, from the Villa of Quintilius Varus 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘View of Tivoli and Monte Catillo, from the Villa of Quintilius Varus’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 29 Recto:
View of Tivoli and Monte Catillo, from the Villa of Quintilius Varus 1819
D15496
Turner Bequest CLXXXIII 29
Pencil and grey watercolour wash on white wove paper, 200 x 253 mm
Inscribed by ?John Ruskin in red ink ‘29’ bottom left, descending left-hand edge
Stamped in black ‘CLXXXIII 29’ bottom left, descending left-hand edge
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner’s exploration of Tivoli included a large number of landscape sketches drawn from the valley to the north. He was particularly attracted by the spectacle of the town’s ancient ruins perched above the steep, wooded gorge and streaming cascatelli (or cascatelle), the lesser cascades of the River Aniene. This study depicts the view looking east towards Monte Catillo with the town at the top of the slopes on the opposite side of the valley. Visible landmarks include, from right to left, the campanile of the Cathedral (Duomo) of San Lorenzo, the substructures supporting the Piazza dell’Olmo (present-day Piazza Domenico Tani), and a medieval watch-tower overlooking the cascatelli at the north-eastern tip of the town. Turner’s viewpoint is a location near the ruins of the Villa of Quintilius Varus, adjacent to the Santuario di Quintiliolo (Church of the Madonna of Quintiliolo) situated on the northern slopes of the valley. Remnants of the foundations as well as broken fragments of masonry can be seen amidst the trees within the foreground on the left-hand side. Like many drawings within this sketchbook, the composition has been executed over a washed grey background.
Similar views can be found on folios 30, 37 and 38 (D15497, D15504 and D15505), as well as in the Tivoli and Rome sketchbook (Tate D15027 and D15035; Turner Bequest CLXXIX 54a and 58a).
Verso:
Blank, except for traces of grey watercolour wash

Nicola Moorby
February 2010

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘View of Tivoli and Monte Catillo, from the Villa of Quintilius Varus 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, February 2010, 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-tivoli-and-monte-catillo-from-the-villa-of-r1137772, accessed 25 April 2024.