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 ... > Venice and Botzen Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Rio della Pietà, Venice, with the Campanile of Sant'Antonin 1840

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Rio della Pietà, Venice, with the Campanile of Sant'Antonin’ 1840
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 1 Recto:
The Rio della Pietà, Venice, with the Campanile of Sant’Antonin 1840
D31791
Turner Bequest CCCXIII 1
Pencil on cream wove paper, 123 x 173 mm
Partial watermark ‘J. Wha’
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘1’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCCXIII – 1’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Drawn with the page turned horizontally, the view is north-north-east along the Rio della Pietà off the Riva degli Schiavoni, towards the Baroque campanile of the church of Sant’Antonin, with its onion dome. The perspective appears somewhat provisional, but the main viewpoint seems to be the bridge along the Calle de la Pietà. The buildings between the church and the one in the immediate foreground on the right have been altered, but the windows on the south sides of the two buildings in the centre distance and nearer on the left (overlooking a walled garden) remain recognisable.
In the distance the Ponte Sant’Antonin links the Salizada dei Greci with the Salizada Sant’Antonin on the south side of the church. There is a view in the opposite direction on the verso (D31792).
Technical notes:
There is a greenish stain at the bottom centre owing to the proximity of the green leather loop secured under the front pastedown opposite (D41118).

Matthew Imms
September 2018

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘The Rio della Pietà, Venice, with the Campanile of Sant’Antonin 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-the-rio-della-pieta-venice-with-the-campanile-of-santantonin-r1196685, accessed 25 April 2024.