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 > Venice to Ancona Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Rocca of Caterina Sforza at Forlì 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Rocca of Caterina Sforza at Forlì’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 49 Recto:
The Rocca of Caterina Sforza at Forlì 1819
D14578
Turner Bequest CLXXVI 45
Pencil on white wove paper, 111 x 184 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘45’ bottom right (now faint)
Stamped in black ‘CLXXVI – 45’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
As recognised by Cecilia Powell, the subject is Forlì’s impressive medieval Rocca of Ravaldino (or Caterina Sforza),1 seen from the north; the prospect is now obscure by trees. The fortress is also shown on folio 44 verso (D14569; Turner Bequest CLXXVI 40a), under which other views of the city are noted.
Powell has commented on the relatively uneventful phase of Turner’s journey between leaving Bologna and reaching Rimini (folios 43 recto–60 verso; D14566–D14598; Turner Bequest CLXXVI 39a–56a);2 for his overall route south-east between Bologna and Ancona, see the sketchbook’s Introduction.

Matthew Imms
March 2017

1
See Powell 1984, p.406.
2
See Powell 1984, pp.89–90, 465 note 98.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘The Rocca of Caterina Sforza at Forlì 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, March 2017, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, July 2017, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-the-rocca-of-caterina-sforza-at-forli-r1186314, accessed 20 September 2024.