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 > Tivoli Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Campagna near Tivoli, with the So-Called Tempio della Tosse and a Distant View of Rome 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Campagna near Tivoli, with the So-Called Tempio della Tosse and a Distant View of Rome’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 12 Recto:
The Campagna near Tivoli, with the So-Called Tempio della Tosse and a Distant View of Rome 1819
D15478
Turner Bequest CLXXXIII 12
Pencil and grey watercolour wash on white wove paper, 200 x 253 mm
Inscribed by ?John Ruskin in pencil ‘12’ bottom left
Stamped in black ‘CLXXXIII 12’ bottom left, descending left-hand edge
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The subject of this drawing is a view of the plain of the Campagna to the west of Tivoli. The ground slopes away on the right to the wooded valley north of the town, with the Ponte dell’Acquoria and the meandering course of the River Aniene. The circular structure on the left-hand side of the composition is the so-called Tempio della Tosse (Temple of the Cough), believed to be the vestibule of a Roman villa, situated near the Santuario di Ercole Vincitore (Sanctuary of Hercules Victor), formerly known as the Villa of Maecenas. The road leading away from the ruin is the present-day Strada degli Orti, which joins the Via Tiburtina towards Rome and leads the eye of the viewer, first to the cylindrical sepulchre, the Tomb of the Plautii in the middle distance, and ultimately to the distant dome of St Peter’s, just visible on the horizon. A sketch of the vista looking in the opposite direction can be found on folio 13 (D15479).
Like many drawings within this sketchbook, the composition has been executed over a washed grey background. Turner has created highlights by rubbing or lifting out the wash to reveal the white paper beneath, principally to delineate the sky above the horizon in the west, and the winding river.
Verso:
Blank, except for traces of grey watercolour wash
Inscribed by ?John Ruskin in red ink ‘357’ bottom left, and by an unknown hand in pencil ‘83’ centre

Nicola Moorby
February 2010

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘The Campagna near Tivoli, with the So-Called Tempio della Tosse and a Distant View of Rome 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, February 2010, 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-the-campagna-near-tivoli-with-the-so-called-tempio-della-r1137753, accessed 17 May 2024.