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

This sketch represents part of a panoramic view looking east towards the Colosseum from a high vantage point just north of the Roman Forum, possibly from the Torre dei Conti. The Colosseum itself dominates the right-hand side of the page and although only briefly outlined, clearly shows the four surviving storeys of the northern half of the structure. The surrounding area to the left includes (from left to right): the ruins of the Domus Aurea and the Baths of Trajan; the remains of the Aqua Claudia (Claudian Aqueduct) near the Porta San Lorenzo; and the circular Temple of Minerva Medica, near present-day Termini Station. In the foreground are some of the columns from the site of the Temple of Venus and Roma, at the eastern end of the Forum. The area today looks very different, transformed during the 1930s by the construction of present-day Via dei Fori Imperiali. The sketch continues on the opposite sheet of the double-page spread, see folio 75 (D16292; Turner Bequest CLXXXVIII 74). Similar views can be found on folios 71 verso and 90 (D16285 and D16321; Turner Bequest CLXXXVIII 70a and 89).