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 > St Peter's Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner View of St Peter's and the Vatican from the North-West 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘View of St Peter's and the Vatican from the North-West’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 6 Verso
View of St Peter’s and the Vatican from the North-West 1819
D16168
Turner Bequest CLXXXVIII 6 a
Pencil on white wove paper, 114 x 189 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner’s viewpoint for this sketch of St Peter’s and the Vatican must have been the wooded hill to the north-west of the complex. Beyond the ramparts built into the sloping ground can be seen the River Tiber and, in the far background, the distant line of mountains. Amongst the identifiable landmarks which Turner has included on the level of the horizon is the distinctive façade of the Villa Medici with its two towers.
The view continues on the opposite sheet of the double-page spread, see folio 7 (D16169).

Nicola Moorby
September 2008

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘View of St Peter’s and the Vatican from the North-West 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 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-view-of-st-peters-and-the-vatican-from-the-north-west-r1139677, accessed 19 April 2024.