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 > Naples, Paestum and Rome Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner ?Two Views of the Distant Ausoni Mountains from Fondi 1819

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘?Two Views of the Distant Ausoni Mountains from Fondi’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 58 Recto:
?Two Views of the Distant Ausoni Mountains from Fondi 1819
D16020
Turner Bequest CLXXXVI 56
Pencil on white wove paper, 189 x 113 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘[?Sob]’ within sketch of mountain and ‘[?Road] | [?Walls] of Fondi W M White | Light red F[arm] [?...] by a Grey’ bottom centre of sketch
Inscribed by ?John Ruskin in red ink ‘56’ top left, ascending left-hand edge and ‘245’ top right, ascending right-hand edge
Stamped in black ‘CLXXXVI 56’ top right, ascending right-hand edge
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The rough nature of these two on-the-spot sketches makes their subject difficult to identify. However, Turner’s inscriptions suggest that they may represent views of the Ausoni mountains seen from Fondi, a town on the Via Appia between Terracina and Formia. The towered structure visible in the lower vista may represent the medieval castle (Castello Baronale), a rectangular structure with distinctive cylindrical towers of varying height. For other sketches see folio 24 (D15954; Turner Bequest CLXXXVI 23), the Vatican Fragments sketchbook (Tate D15160; Turner Bequest CLXXX 28a) and the Gandolfo to Naples sketchbook (Tate D15598 and D15602; Turner Bequest CLXXXIV 21a and 23a).

Nicola Moorby
July 2010

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘?Two Views of the Distant Ausoni Mountains from Fondi 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, July 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-two-views-of-the-distant-ausoni-mountains-from-fondi-r1137944, accessed 18 April 2024.