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

At Foligno, the route to Rome joined the Via Flaminia and continued south towards Spoleto. The three sketches on this page chart stages of Turner’s progress between Foligno and the Temple of the Clitumnus near Pissignano. The principal view at the bottom depicts the road leaving Foligno, at a point near the present-day Porta Romana. The town visible on the crest of the hill in the distance on the right is Trevi, with the campanile of the Cathedral of Sant’Emiliano.

The subject of the second sketch in the top right-hand corner is the castle at Sant’Eraclio, a fortification built to guard the Via Flaminia, approximately a mile and a half outside of Foligno. Turner’s idiosyncratic spelling of the place name, ‘St Orraclio’ suggests it was a phonetic attempt to make sense of an unfamiliar Italian word told to him by a native speaker. Finally, the third sketch in the top left-hand corner shows the medieval watchtower at Matigge, a small village approximately four miles south of Foligno. Once again, Trevi is visible in the background beyond.