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

The town of Narni occupies the crest of a hill approximately seven miles south-west of Terni, and fifty miles north of Rome. As was often the case during Turner’s travels, his mode of travelling did not give him much opportunity to stop and explore the centre of the town. The carriage simply followed a predetermined course in an anti-clockwise direction from east to south-west around the walled perimeter. Consequently Turner’s sketches of Narni only relate to views or subjects visible from the road such as the edges of the town and the Bridge of Augustus in the gorge below.

These two small inverted sketches depict the Nera gorge on the western side of the Narni, from a point near the Porta Pietra. The town itself can be seen on the right-hand side, whilst on the left of the more detailed vista is the hillside monastery of San Cassiano. Further views of a similar nature can be found on folios 60, 69 verso and 70 (D14769, D14788 and D14789).