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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Florence from near San Salvatore al Monte 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 63 Verso:
Florence from near San Salvatore al Monte 1819
D16592
Turner Bequest CXCI 63 a
Pencil on white wove paper, 113 x 189 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
As Cecilia Powell first correctly identified, Turner’s viewpoint for this sketch of Florence was the Monte alle Croci, a hill to the south-east of the River Arno upon which sit the Churches of San Miniato al Monte and San Salvatore al Monte.1 This has always been a favoured spot for panoramic views across the city, and during the later nineteenth century it was transformed by the construction of the Piazzale Michelangelo. The composition continues on the opposite sheet of the double-page spread, see folio 64 (D16593), but visible on this side, from left to right, are: the Forte Belvedere and part of the medieval city walls; the Ponte Vecchio; and the river façade of the Uffizi Gallery. Related sketches can be found on folios 51–52, 62 verso–63, 64 verso, 65 verso (D16571–D16573, D16590–D16591, D16594, D16596).
The vista is very similar to Turner’s earlier watercolour, Florence from the Chiesa al Monte circa 1818 (private collection),2 engraved and published in James Hakewill’s Picturesque Tour of Italy, 1820.3 The artist revisited the theme in 1827–8 when he manipulated the topography to produce four watercolour versions of a view called Florence, from San Miniato.4 In fact, as Powell has discussed, it is not possible to see the Arno and its bridges from the Church of San Miniato, and the more likely location is a position near San Salvatore al Monte. Turner has further altered the scene by placing the viewer above an imaginary terrace directly overlooking the exaggerated sweep of the river.5

Nicola Moorby
January 2011

1
Powell 1987, p.204 note 18.
2
Andrew Wilton, The Life and Work of J.M.W. Turner, Fribourg 1979, no.714.
3
See the engraving by George Cooke (Tate T06027).
4
The four versions are: currently untraced (Wilton 726); in the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry (Wilton no.727); the British Museum (Wilton no.728), reproduced in Powell 1987, colour pl.17; and private collection (Wilton no.729). There is also a related colour beginning (see Tate D25138; Turner Bequest CCLXIII 16).
5
Powell 1987, pp.93–4.

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Florence from near San Salvatore al Monte 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-florence-from-near-san-salvatore-al-monte-r1138485, accessed 29 March 2024.