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 Boats Moored in the Rain off the Riva degli Schiavoni, with the Campanile of San Marco (St Mark's) and Santa Maria della Salute Beyond; Waterfront Scenes 1840

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Boats Moored in the Rain off the Riva degli Schiavoni, with the Campanile of San Marco (St Mark's) and Santa Maria della Salute Beyond; Waterfront Scenes’ 1840
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 53 Verso:
Boats Moored in the Rain off the Riva degli Schiavoni, with the Campanile of San Marco (St Mark’s) and Santa Maria della Salute Beyond; Waterfront Scenes 1840
D31915
Turner Bequest CCCXIII 63a
Pencil on cream wove paper, 123 x 173 mm
Partial watermark ‘J. Wh’
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The drawings were made with the page turned horizontally. Finberg later annotated his basic 1909 Inventory entry (‘Buildings from canal’): ‘R. d. Schiavoni, lkg twds Ducal Pal. & Salute’.1 These familiar elements are seen in the lower drawing, looking west off the Riva degli Schiavoni towards the Bacino waterfront, with the campanile of San Marco (St Mark’s) at the centre and the dome of Santa Maria della Salute beyond the masts at the left; compare aspects of the scene shown for example on folios 7 recto and verso (D31803–D31804).
The hulls of the boats are partly shaded, with additional hatching descending to the right in that part of the drawing seemingly indicating falling rain. There are more signs of bad weather on folios 60 recto and 61 recto (D31908, D31910).
It is unclear precisely how the slighter sketch or sketches at the top (outer) edge relate to the lower view; the campanile seems to be shown again towards the left, and the prospect is likely again westwards along the Riva or the quays continuing away from the centre of the city.

Matthew Imms
September 2018

1
Undated MS note by Finberg (died 1939) in interleaved copy of Finberg 1909, Prints and Drawings Room, Tate Britain, II, p.1012.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Boats Moored in the Rain off the Riva degli Schiavoni, with the Campanile of San Marco (St Mark’s) and Santa Maria della Salute Beyond; Waterfront Scenes 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-in-the-rain-off-the-riva-degli-schiavoni-with-r1196810, accessed 27 April 2024.