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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner View of Tivoli, from the Valley of the River Aniene 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 41 Recto:
View of Tivoli, from the Valley of the River Aniene 1819
D15508
Turner Bequest CLXXXIII 41
Pencil and grey watercolour wash on white wove paper, 200 x 253 mm
Inscribed by ?John Ruskin in faded red ink ‘41’ bottom left, descending left-hand edge
Stamped in black ‘CLXXXIII 41’ 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. This sketch depicts a view of the town from the banks of the River Aniene looking east, an area now dominated by an electrical power plant. The town is silhouetted along the brow of the hill above. Visible landmarks include from left to right: a medieval watch-tower; the substructures supporting the Piazza dell’Olmo (present-day Piazza Domenico Tani); the campanile of the Cathedral (Duomo) of San Lorenzo; the tower of the Santuario di Ercole Vincitore (Sanctuary of Hercules Victor), a ruined Roman temple formerly known as the Villa of Maecenas; and on the far left, the Villa d’Este, with the adjacent campanile of the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore. The ruined bridge in the foreground may be the Ponte dell’Acquoria (Bridge of the Golden Water), which carried the ancient Via Tiburtina over the River Aniene, (see Tate D15012; Turner Bequest CLXXIX 46), whilst the second set of arches immediately behind represents another nearby crossing. A more detailed study of the latter can be seen on folio 21 (D15487). Similar views can be seen on folios 7, 8, 16, 26, and 41a (D15473, D15474, D15482, D15493, D15509), and in the Tivoli and Rome sketchbook (Tate D15033; Turner Bequest CLXXIX 57 verso).
Like many drawings within this sketchbook, the composition has been executed over a washed grey background. Turner has created highlights within the work by rubbing or lifting out the wash to reveal the white paper beneath, principally to delineate elements of the architecture and the curve of the river.

Nicola Moorby
February 2010

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘View of Tivoli, from the Valley of the River Aniene 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-from-the-valley-of-the-river-aniene-r1137784, accessed 29 March 2024.