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 > Route to Rome Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Ponte di Rialto, Venice; and Notes by Turner on the Church of Saint-Michel, Dijon 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Ponte di Rialto, Venice; and Notes by Turner on the Church of Saint-Michel, Dijon’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 6 Verso:
Ponte di Rialto, Venice; and Notes by Turner on the Church of Saint-Michel, Dijon 1819
D13870
Turner Bequest CLXXI 6 a
Pencil on white wove paper, 88 x 114 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘Dijon the 3 portals of Ch St Michela – | by Hugues Sanbin the [?level] of M Angelo’ top
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This page contains a sketch of the Ponte di Rialto in Venice. For further studies of the bridge see the Milan to Venice sketchbook (Tate D14463; Turner Bequest CLXXV 77a).
The inscription at the top of the page refers to the church of Saint-Michel in Dijon, France, famous for the elaborate triple doorway of the west façade. The design was formerly attributed to the French sculptor, Hugues Sambin (circa 1520–1601). Dijon was a regular stopping place for Grand Tour travellers en route to Italy, and it seems possible that Turner may have jotted down the note from a conversation with an informed authority, possibly James Hakewill (see the introduction to the sketchbook).

Nicola Moorby
March 2010

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Ponte di Rialto, Venice; and Notes by Turner on the Church of Saint-Michel, Dijon 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, March 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-ponte-di-rialto-venice-and-notes-by-turner-on-the-church-of-r1138688, accessed 27 November 2024.