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 > Italian Guide Book Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Notes by Turner from Eustace's 'A Classical Tour Through Italy' c.1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Notes by Turner from Eustace's 'A Classical Tour Through Italy'’ c.1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 11 Recto:
Notes by Turner from Eustace’s ‘A Classical Tour Through Italy’ circa 1819
D13951
Turner Bequest CLXXII 11
Inscribed by the artist in black ink (see main catalogue entry) on white wove paper, 155 x 99 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘11’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CLXXII 11’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This page is one of several sides of extensive notes made by Turner from A Classical Tour Through Italy by Revd John Chetwode Eustace. The source was first identified by Cecilia Powell, who also transcribed Turner’s notes in full in the Appendix of her 1984 PhD thesis, ‘Turner on Classic Ground: His Visits to Central and Southern Italy and Related Paintings and Drawings’.1 The inscription is repeated here with only minor variations from her text:
Near the Caracalla circus is the tomb of | Cecila Mettela built by Crassus to his wife | Grotto of Egeria on the hill above Church | of St Urban once temple of Bacchus or the Muses | likewise a brick temple God Rediculus or | Fortuna Muliebris Via Appua river Almo | returns by Porta Capena – – | out of the Porta Nomentana (now Pia) 1 mile the | Ch of St Agnes. 2 Rows of col .. built by Constantine | Ch of St Constantia formerly her mausoleum supposed | temple to Bacchus circular 2 further Ponte Lamentano | anciently Nomentanus and Bridge over the Anio and | Mons Sacer. Ponte Salaro 2 Miles N of Pons | Nomentanus. the place of combat between Manlius | Torquatus and the gigantic Gaul and Encampment | of Hannibal, return by the Via Salaria and Gate | To Tivoli by the Via Tiburtina. Basilica of | St Laurence 2 Miles more the Ponte Mamolo over | the Anio or Teverone built by Mammea the | mother of Alexr Severus 8 Miles further cross | the Solfatara Lake Solfatara 1 Mile. Virgil | makes Laternus consult the oracle of Faunus here | Ponte Lugano 1 1/2 called from the defeat of the Lucanians | by the Romans. Tomb of the Plautian family | 2 miles further a road to the villa of Adrian Vale | of Tempe. return to the road to T. the House of the Jesuits | Villa of Santa Croce Tivoli or Tibur Temple of the | Sibyl or Vesta suspended over the præceps precipice | of the Anio now Teverone another remains of a temple
These notes relate to various passages from volume II of Eustace’s text and condense parts of the author’s account of Rome and its environs.2 Many of the sights listed here form subjects in Turner’s various sketchbooks, such as the tomb of Cecilia Metella on the Via Appia, the Tomb of the Plautian family and Ponte Lucano, and the ancient Roman temples at Tivoli, see Tivoli and Rome sketchbook (Tate; Turner Bequest sketchbook CLXXIX), Tivoli sketchbook (Tate; Turner Bequest CLXXXIII) and Albano, Nemi, Rome sketchbook (Tate; Turner Bequest CLXXXII).
For a general discussion of Turner’s notes from Eustace see the introduction to the sketchbook.

Nicola Moorby
July 2008

1
Powell 1984, pp.390–1.
2
John Chetwode Eustace, A Classical Tour Through Italy, London 1815, 3rd edition, vol.II, pp.214–232.

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Notes by Turner from Eustace’s ‘A Classical Tour Through Italy’ c.1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, July 2008, 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-notes-by-turner-from-eustaces-a-classical-tour-through-italy-r1138772, accessed 25 April 2024.