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 > Rome and Florence Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Florence from the South, with the City Walls 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Florence from the South, with the City Walls’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 51 Recto:
Florence from the South, with the City Walls 1819
D16571
Turner Bequest CXCI 51
Pencil on white wove paper, 113 x 189 mm
Inscribed by ?John Ruskin in red ink ‘51’ top left, inverted [very faint]
Stamped in black ‘CXCI 51’ top left, inverted
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Finberg suggested that this view of Florence was taken from the Boboli Gardens, but in fact Turner’s viewpoint must have been further east, from the hill to the south of the Arno, between Forte Belvedere and San Miniato al Monte (near present-day Via dell’Erta Canina). Visible from left to right in the centre are the silhouettes of the tower of the Palazzo Vecchio, the dome of San Lorenzo, and the campanile and dome of the Duomo, whilst following the slope of the hill across the foreground is the line of the old city walls leading from Porta San Niccolò to Forte Belvedere. Related views can be seen on folio 51 verso–52 (D16572–D16573).

Nicola Moorby
December 2010

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Florence from the South, with the City Walls 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, December 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-florence-from-the-south-with-the-city-walls-r1138464, accessed 27 April 2024.