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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Italy c.1828-43 > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner An ?Italian Town above a River c.1828-43

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘An ?Italian Town above a River’ c.1828-43
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
An ?Italian Town above a River c.1828–43
D34040
Turner Bequest CCCXLI 321
Black and white chalks on grey wove paper, 153 x 229 mm
Inscribed in red ink ‘321’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCCXLI – 321’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The subject, a town on a hillside beyond a river, is unidentified, but may be Italian; see the Introduction to this section for further brief discussion and dating. The ladder-like form above the bridge may be a water wheel seen head on.
Technical notes:
In 1909 the drawing was described by Finberg as in ‘Pencil and white chalk’,1 but it appears to be black chalk, while the only white now evident is a dash below the bridge.
1
Finberg 1909, II, p.1083.
Verso:
Blank; inscribed in pencil ‘321’ right of centre.

Matthew Imms
February 2016

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘An ?Italian Town above a River c.1828–43 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, February 2016, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2016, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-an-italian-town-above-a-river-r1183034, accessed 26 April 2024.