Joseph Mallord William Turner Sketches of Spoleto from near the Present-Day Ponte Garibaldi 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 42 Recto:
Sketches of Spoleto from near the Present-Day Ponte Garibaldi 1819
D14734
Turner Bequest CLXXVII 42
Turner Bequest CLXXVII 42
Pencil on white wove paper, 110 x 186 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘42’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CLXXVII 42’ bottom right
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘42’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CLXXVII 42’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
References
1909
A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, London 1909, vol.I, p.522, as ‘Do. [Spoleto.]’.
1968
Giovanni Carandente, ‘Un Viaggio di Turner in Umbria’, Spoletium: Rivista di arte, storia e cultura, no.13, April 1968, p.21 note 24, reproduced p.19 fig.10, as ‘Veduta di Spoleto’.
1984
Cecilia Powell, ‘Turner on Classic Ground: His Visits to Central and Southern Italy and Related Paintings and Drawings’, unpublished Ph.D thesis, Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London 1984, pp. 101, 469 notes 139 and 143, 352 note 19, 409, as ‘Sketches of Spoleto from near Ponte Garibaldi’.
1987
Cecilia Powell, Turner in the South: Rome, Naples, Florence, New Haven and London 1987, p.34.
2008
James Hamilton, Nicola Moorby, Christopher Baker and others, Turner e l’Italia, exhibition catalogue, Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara 2008, pp.44, 90 note 29.
2009
James Hamilton, Nicola Moorby, Christopher Baker and others, Turner & Italy, exhibition catalogue, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh 2009, pp.42, 150–1 note 29.
The picturesque Umbrian town of Spoleto lies thirteen miles from Foligno, approximately half-way on the nineteenth-century route between Ancona and Rome. This sketch represents a panoramic view of the skyline from the natural point of entry into the north-east side of the town; the intersection of the Via Flaminia and the River Tessino, near present-day Ponte Garibaldi. On the far left are the remaining arches of the ruined Roman bridge, the Ponte Sanguinario whilst the walls of the town run across the foreground. Other identifiable buildings are, from left to right: the Rocca Albornoziana; the Cathedral of Santa Maria di Assunta; the Church of Santa Maria della Manna d’Oro; the Church of San Filippo Neri; and the Torre dell’Olio. Similar views can be found on folios 38 verso–39 (D14727–8) and 40 verso (D14731).
In the bottom right-hand corner of the page there is a small inverted sketch which appears to show a line of mountains and some buildings. The subject remains unidentified.
Nicola Moorby
November 2008
How to cite
Nicola Moorby, ‘Sketches of Spoleto from near the Present-Day Ponte Garibaldi 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, November 2008, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www