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 Boats Moored off the Molo, Venice, at the Entrance to the Piazzetta, with the Zecca (Mint) Libreria Sansoviniana, Campanile and Basilica of San Marco (St Mark's), and Palazzo Ducale (Doge's Palace) 1840

Image 1 of 2
  • Enhanced image
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Boats Moored off the Molo, Venice, at the Entrance to the Piazzetta, with the Zecca (Mint) Libreria Sansoviniana, Campanile and Basilica of San Marco (St Mark's), and Palazzo Ducale (Doge's Palace)’ 1840
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 82 Verso:
Boats Moored off the Molo, Venice, at the Entrance to the Piazzetta, with the Zecca (Mint) Libreria Sansoviniana, Campanile and Basilica of San Marco (St Mark’s), and Palazzo Ducale (Doge’s Palace) 1840
D32424
Turner Bequest CCCXX 82a
Pencil on white wove paper, 89 x 149 mm
Partial watermark ‘& C’
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Along with folio 77 verso (D32414), folios 79 verso–82 verso (D32418–D32424) show various aspects of the Piazzetta, all made with the pages turned horizontally. Here Turner has made the transition to the waters of the Bacino, beginning a brief sequence between here and folio 87 recto (D32433).
Although Finberg limited his description to ‘Vessels’,1 this slight, schematic view shows the readily recognisable prospect north from the Bacino to the Molo waterfront and the twin columns at the entrance to the Piazzetta, flanked by the Zecca (Mint) and Libreria Sansoviniana on the left, with rough indications of the Campanile of San Marco (St Mark’s) beyond; towards the right, with a cursory indication of the domed Basilica beyond, is the south-western corner of the Palazzo Ducale (Doge’s Palace).
Folio 83 recto opposite (D32425) may show a continuation to the right, along the Riva degli Schiavoni.

Matthew Imms
September 2018

1
Finberg 1909, II, p.1032, and 1930, p.170.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Boats Moored off the Molo, Venice, at the Entrance to the Piazzetta, with the Zecca (Mint) Libreria Sansoviniana, Campanile and Basilica of San Marco (St Mark’s), and Palazzo Ducale (Doge’s Palace) 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-boats-moored-off-the-molo-venice-at-the-entrance-to-the-r1196658, accessed 19 September 2024.