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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1836-47 Modern painter > Venice, Austria and Southern Germany ... > Rotterdam to Venice Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Belluno and the Dolomites from the South, across the River Piave 1840

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Belluno and the Dolomites from the South, across the River Piave’ 1840
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 71 Verso:
Belluno and the Dolomites from the South, across the River Piave 1840
D32402
Turner Bequest CCCXX 71a
Pencil on white wove paper, 89 x 149 mm
Partial watermark ‘J H’
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the page turned horizontally, this laterally compressed view is north across the broad, meandering River Piave to Belluno and beyond to the Dolomites, with the cathedral’s campanile towards the left above cliffs since partly softened by later buildings and trees. Only a single arch of the Ponte Vecchio, shown towards the bottom left, now survives above the far bank, and there is no trace of the nearer wooden bridge, shown in old photographs. The viewpoint was the Via Sanfor on the hill opposite, but trees now preclude a clear view.
This is the last of a series of variant views from this direction; see also 68 recto–70 verso (D32395–D32400). For other views in and around Belluno on adjacent pages, see under folio 66 verso (D32392).

Matthew Imms
September 2018

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Belluno and the Dolomites from the South, across the River Piave 1840 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2018, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2019, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-belluno-and-the-dolomites-from-the-south-across-the-river-r1196636, accessed 05 April 2026.