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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > First Italian Tour 1819-20 > Small Roman Colour Studies Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner View of San Francesco di Paolo, Rome, with the Colosseum Beyond 1819

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘View of San Francesco di Paolo, Rome, with the Colosseum Beyond’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 5 Recto:
View of San Francesco di Paolo, Rome, with the Colosseum Beyond 1819
D16404
Turner Bequest CXC 8
Pencil and grey watercolour wash on white wove paper, 130 x 255 mm
Inscribed by ?John Ruskin in red ink ‘5’ top right and by an unknown hand in pencil ‘8’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CXC 8’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The subject of this sketch is the eighteenth-century Church of San Francesco di Paola ai Monti, seen from the north with the northern façade of the Colosseum directly beyond. Visible on the left is part of the basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli. Like many drawings within this sketchbook, the composition has been sketched over a washed grey background and Turner has created highlights by rubbing and scratching through to reveal the white paper beneath.
Verso:
Blank except for traces of grey, blue and yellow watercolour

Nicola Moorby
May 2009

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘View of San Francesco di Paolo, Rome, with the Colosseum Beyond 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2009, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-view-of-san-francesco-di-paolo-rome-with-the-colosseum-r1132500, accessed 17 May 2024.