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 > Venice to Ancona Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Two Studies of a Sunset ?near Venice; Distant Mountains beyond a Bridge 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Two Studies of a Sunset ?near Venice; Distant Mountains beyond a Bridge’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 11 Recto:
Two Studies of a Sunset ?near Venice; Distant Mountains beyond a Bridge 1819
D14508
Turner Bequest CLXXVI 11
Pencil on white wove paper, 111 x 184 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘warm Grey’ and ‘yellow’ towards top centre, and ‘[?Yllo]’, ‘L[...]’, ‘warm’, ‘R[...]’ and ‘Purple’ towards top right, across skies
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘11’ bottom right (now faint)
Stamped in black ‘CLXXVI – 11’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
At the top right, framed by pencil lines, are two successive studies of a sunset beyond trees, with written colour notes. The main view shows the profile of distant hills or mountains, perhaps beyond a bay, lake or broad river; there is a broad arch on the left, presumably of a bridge, with columns apparently rising immediately above it, either from the bridge itself or as part of a structure beyond it.
Ian Warrell has noted this page in relation to the Venetian views with annotated skies on folios 20 recto and verso (D14525–D14526; Turner Bequest CLXXVI 20, 20a).1 Although adjacent pages show Venice, the setting may be elsewhere on the route between there and Ancona at either end of the sketchbook.

Matthew Imms
March 2017

1
See Warrell 2003, pp.88, 263 note 7.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Two Studies of a Sunset ?near Venice; Distant Mountains beyond a Bridge 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, March 2017, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, July 2017, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-two-studies-of-a-sunset-near-venice-distant-mountains-beyond-r1186243, accessed 20 May 2024.