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

As identified by Finberg in his 1909 Inventory of the Bequest, Turner achieved this viewpoint from halfway along the Ponte Vecchio, which crosses the River Arno in Florence.1 The only medieval bridge in the city to survive the Second World War, it is now a popular landmark famed for its rows of shops and goldsmithing traditions. On the page opposite, folio 80 verso (D21564), Turner produced a variant study from a similar vantage point, detailing the bridge’s three central arches in the foreground. Here, the arches are omitted to allow for a more architecturally detailed panorama of the riverside buildings along the present-day Lungarno degli Archibusieri.

Facing south-east, Turner sketched the River Arno and the neighbouring bridge, the Ponte alle Grazie. As shown here, evenly spaced chapels and dwelling houses once stood along the Ponte alle Grazie; these were cleared in the 1870s, and the entire bridge was later rebuilt following its destruction during the Second World War. The distant tower beyond is the Porta San Niccolò.

The riverside buildings detailed to the left include, at the centre, the three-storey Uffizi gallery, commissioned by Cosimo I de’ Medici and built in the mid sixteenth century to designs by Giorgio Vasari.2 Further unidentified buildings appear in the bottom-right corner.

For a general commentary on Turner’s second visit to Florence in 1828, his first encounter with the city in 1819, and a list of relevant works in the present sketchbook, see under folio 2 verso (D21415).