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 > Ancona to Rome Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Medieval and Roman Bridges, Narni 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Medieval and Roman Bridges, Narni’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 68 Recto:
The Medieval and Roman Bridges, Narni 1819
D14785
Turner Bequest CLXXVII 68
Pencil on white wove paper, 110 x 186 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘68’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CLXXVII 68’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner devoted a considerable number of sketches to the Roman Bridge of Augustus (Ponte d’Augusto) at Narni, one of the most famous landmarks in Umbria, see folio 61 verso (D14772). This view is a study of surviving piers of the bridge with the adjacent medieval bridge in the background beyond. Turner has sketched the outline of the central column so that it appears transparent.
The position of the sun in the sky indicates that the sketch was taken in the morning, when the sun was climbing from the east.

Nicola Moorby
November 2008

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘The Medieval and Roman Bridges, Narni 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, November 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-the-medieval-and-roman-bridges-narni-r1138948, accessed 21 September 2024.