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 > Milan to Venice Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Rialto Bridge and the Campanile of San Bartolomeo, Venice, from below the Campanile of San Giovanni Elemosinario 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Rialto Bridge and the Campanile of San Bartolomeo, Venice, from below the Campanile of San Giovanni Elemosinario’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 47 Verso:
The Rialto Bridge and the Campanile of San Bartolomeo, Venice, from below the Campanile of San Giovanni Elemosinario 1819
D14404
Turner Bequest CLXXV 47a
Pencil on white wove paper, 112 x 185 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Ruga Vecchia | [...?Z...NN...]’ centre right, on sign
Partial watermark ‘lee | 13’
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, Turner’s drawing shows the Rialto Bridge and the campanile of San Bartolomeo beyond in the distance, looking south-east down the long, steeply receding arcade flanking the narrow Ruga dei Oresi. The viewpoint is the corner of Ruga Vecchia San Giovanni, where Turner appears to indicate a street sign, above which the campanile of the church of San Giovanni Elemosinario rises.
This is a rare instance of Turner’s recording a Venice street scene out of sight of the main waterways. For other drawings made in the vicinity and an overview of Turner’s coverage of Venice, see the sketchbook’s Introduction.

Matthew Imms
March 2017

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘The Rialto Bridge and the Campanile of San Bartolomeo, Venice, from below the Campanile of San Giovanni Elemosinario 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-rialto-bridge-and-the-campanile-of-san-bartolomeo-venice-r1186517, accessed 25 April 2024.