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 > Vatican Fragments Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Lake Nemi from Genzano 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Lake Nemi from Genzano’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 6 Recto:
Lake Nemi from Genzano 1819
D15113
Turner Bequest CLXXX 5
Pencil on paper 101 x 161 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘Nemi’ bottom right
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘5’ top right, ascending right-hand edge
Stamped in black ‘CLXXX 5’ top right, ascending right-hand edge
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
In addition to using the Vatican Fragments sketchbook to record details of art and architecture in Rome, Turner also appears to have employed it on several occasions during his journey south to or from Naples. The inscription in the bottom right-hand corner of this landscape sketch identifies the subject as the town and lake of Nemi, approximately eighteen miles south-east of Rome. Turner’s viewpoint is near the town of Genzano, looking north-east across the lake towards Nemi. Related sketches can be found on folios 1 verso, 26 verso, 29 verso, 75 verso, 79 verso, 80 verso and 82 (D15106, D15154, D15160, D15236, D15244, D15246 and D15249; Turner Bequest CLXXX 1a, 25a, 28a, 74a, 78a, 79a and 81). For other studies of the area see the Albano, Nemi, Rome sketchbook (Tate D15329; Turner Bequest CLXXXII 19) and the Gandolfo to Naples sketchbook (Tate D15567; Turner Bequest CLXXXIV 7).
Lake Nemi later formed the subject for two finished watercolours, a vignette illustration, Lake Nemi circa 1835–40 (Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati),1 and Lake Nemi circa 1840 (British Museum).2 Turner also painted an unfinished oil study, Lake Nemi (Tate, N03027) dating from circa 1827–8. All of these views feature a southerly prospect of the lake, with Nemi on the left and Genzano on the right, and therefore are unrelated in composition to this sketch.

Nicola Moorby
October 2009

1
Wilton 1979, no.1311.
2
Ibid, no.1381, see Powell 1987, reproduced colour pl.40.

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Lake Nemi from Genzano 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, October 2009, 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-lake-nemi-from-genzano-r1139525, accessed 19 April 2024.