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 Two Sketches of the Piazza Cavour and Porta San Gallo, Florence 1819

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Two Sketches of the Piazza Cavour and Porta San Gallo, Florence’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 59 Recto:
Two Sketches of the Piazza Cavour and Porta San Gallo, Florence 1819
D16583
Turner Bequest CXCI 59
Pencil on white wove paper, 100 x 113 mm approximately
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘[?Angls Black C...]’ centre left-hand edge
Inscribed by ?John Ruskin in red ink ‘59’ bottom left, ascending left-hand edge [very faint]
Stamped in black ‘CXCI 59’ bottom left, ascending left-hand edge
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The two sketches on this partially torn page represent views of the Piazza Cavour (present-day Piazza della Libertà) and the Porta San Gallo in Florence.1 The latter is a medieval gate which was the northernmost point of entry to the city and it can be seen in both of the studies immediately behind the large eighteenth-century triumphal arch. The upper vista includes the view looking south across Florence towards the unmistakable dome and campanile of the Duomo. Related studies can also be seen on folios 59 verso and 70 (D16584 and D16603).

Nicola Moorby
January 2011

1
Finberg 1909, p.569 and Powell 1984, p.205.

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Two Sketches of the Piazza Cavour and Porta San Gallo, Florence 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, January 2011, 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-sketches-of-the-piazza-cavour-and-porta-san-gallo-r1138476, accessed 19 April 2024.