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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Second Italian Tour 1828-9 > Florence to Orvieto Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Street Scene in a ?Tuscan Town; a River Valley 1828

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Street Scene in a ?Tuscan Town; a River Valley’ 1828
Folio 3 Recto:
A Street Scene in a ?Tuscan Town; a River Valley 1828
D21592
Turner Bequest CCXXXIV 3
Pencil on paper, 148 x 104 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘all ARCO | COSTA | all ARCO’ towards bottom left
Stamped in black ‘CCXXXIV – 3’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Dominating the lower half of this page is a street scene from an unidentified town, presumably in Tuscany. Buildings are swiftly outlined to the left, and the corner of a temple-like structure lies to the right, detailed with a fluted column; a section of the entablature and pediment; a doorway and a circular window. The meaning of Turner’s bottom-left inscription ‘all ARCO | COSTA | all ARCO’ remains unclear. The upper half of the page is sparsely detailed, and features a river valley with hilltop town on the horizon.

Hannah Kaspar
November 2024

How to cite

Hannah Kaspar, ‘A Street Scene in a ?Tuscan Town; a River Valley 1828’, catalogue entry, November 2024, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, February 2025, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/a-street-scene-in-a-tuscan-town-a-river-valley-r1210133, accessed 17 April 2025.