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 Bridges, ?between Bologna and Forlì 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Bridges, ?between Bologna and Forlì’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 43 Recto:
Bridges, ?between Bologna and Forlì 1819
D14566
Turner Bequest CLXXVI 39
Pencil on white wove paper, 111 x 184 mm
Partial watermark ‘Allnutt | 18’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘[?Salero | Lecitie]’ bottom right, descending vertically
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘39’ bottom right (now faint)
Stamped in black ‘CLXXVI – 39’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
There are sketches of unidentified humpbacked bridges with distant hills here, on the verso and on folios 44 recto and 45 verso (D14567, D14568, D14571; Turner Bequest CLXXVI 39a, 40, 41a), some at least possibly showing aspects of the same structure; the larger drawing on the present page appears to show a more substantial bridge with more arches. The two words written rather shakily at the corner may be related place names noted en route.
Cecilia Powell has commented on the relatively uneventful phase of Turner’s journey between leaving Bologna and reaching Rimini (folios 43 recto–60 verso; D14566–D14598; Turner Bequest CLXXVI 39a–56a);1 for his overall route south-east between Bologna and Ancona, see the sketchbook’s Introduction.

Matthew Imms
March 2017

1
See Powell 1984, pp.89–90, 465 note 98.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Bridges, ?between Bologna and Forlì 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-bridges-between-bologna-and-forli-r1186302, accessed 13 January 2025.