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 Ponte alle Grazie and San Miniato al Monte, from the Uffizi, Florence 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Ponte alle Grazie and San Miniato al Monte, from the Uffizi, Florence’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 83 Recto:
Ponte alle Grazie and San Miniato al Monte, from the Uffizi, Florence 1819
D16626
Turner Bequest CXCI 83
Pencil on white wove paper, 113 x 189 mm
Inscribed by ?John Ruskin in red ink ‘83’ bottom right [very faint]
Stamped in black ‘CXCI 83’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Many of Turner’s sketches of Florence represent views from the banks of the River Arno. This study depicts the vista looking upstream (east) from the river end of the Uffizi gallery, the arches of which are visible on the far left-hand side of the composition. The central focus of the drawing is the Ponte alle Grazie, a historic crossing anciently known as the Ponte Rubaconte.1 As Turner’s sketch shows the bridge was formerly punctuated by buildings over the supporting piers, but these were removed during the late nineteenth century and the bridge itself was rebuilt after being destroyed during the Second World War. To the left of the Ponte alle Grazie is the tall, fortified tower of the Porta San Niccolò (present-day Torre San Niccolò), the easternmost gate of the medieval city walls, whilst rising above the city on the right is the hill topped by the Churches of San Salvatore al Monte and San Miniato al Monte.
1
Powell 1984, p.431.
Verso:
Blank

Nicola Moorby
February 2011

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Ponte alle Grazie and San Miniato al Monte, from the Uffizi, Florence 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, February 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-ponte-alle-grazie-and-san-miniato-al-monte-from-the-uffizi-r1138519, accessed 19 September 2024.