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 Bologna from the Montagnola Gardens 1819

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Bologna from the Montagnola Gardens’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 33 Recto:
Bologna from the Montagnola Gardens 1819
D14546
Turner Bequest CLXXVI 29
Pencil on white wove paper, 111 x 184 mm
Partial watermark ‘Allnutt | 18’
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘29’ bottom right (now faint)
Stamped in black ‘CLXXVI – 29’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The view, south-south-east to the towers and domes of central Bologna, is largely precluded today by later developments. The array depicted here in detail is shown in the distance beyond trees, lightly hatched in a contre-jour effect, on folio 32 verso opposite (D14545; Turner Bequest CLXXVI 28a).
On the left is the lofty Torre Asinelli (the only structure readily visible now from this viewpoint), with the leaning Torre Garisenda on its near side. Moving west, next comes the dome of the Sanctuary of Santa Maria della Vita, a little beyond, and then the Torre Prendiparte, with its zigzag articulation, and Torre Azzoguidi (or Altabella). The main building to the right is the Cathedral of Sanpietro with its campanile.
For Cecilia Powell’s general comments on Turner’s views of Bologna from a distance here and around the Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca (folios 32 verso–39 recto; D14545–D14558; Turner Bequest CLXXVI 28a–35), see under D14545,1 and for general remarks on the city and numerous views on adjacent pages, see under folio 24 recto (D14532).

Matthew Imms
March 2017

1
See Powell 1984, pp.92, 466 note 110, and Powell 1987, pp.25, 202 note 46.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Bologna from the Montagnola Gardens 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-bologna-from-the-montagnola-gardens-r1186282, accessed 13 January 2025.