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 Sketch of a Sarcophagus, Rome 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Sketch of a Sarcophagus, Rome’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 24 Verso:
Sketch of a Sarcophagus, Rome 1819
D15150
Turner Bequest CLXXX 23 a
Pencil on paper 101 x 161 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘14’ within sketch and ‘Doric’ bottom right of sketch
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This rough sketch appears to depict a sarcophagus, decorated with figures and a wave-like strigil motif which Turner has noted is repeated ‘14’ times. The source of the object is currently unidentified. It may represent one of the numerous sculptural funerary monuments from the Vatican collections, or, as the annotation in the bottom right-hand corner suggests, it may be found in the collection of the Villa Doria-Pamphili, or Palazzo Doria-Pamphili.

Nicola Moorby
November 2009

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Sketch of a Sarcophagus, Rome 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, November 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-sketch-of-a-sarcophagus-rome-r1139562, accessed 23 April 2024.