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

The Turner scholar C.F. Bell annotated Finberg’s 1909 Inventory entry (‘Street scene (?)’): ‘Canal with gondolas and lofty bridges’.1 These readings interpret the centralised, richly coloured but loosely articulated composition as a narrow exterior space, which appears full of figures. Andrew Wilton thought it might show ‘some place of entertainment connected with the theatre’ (see under Tate D32237; Turner Bequest CCCXVIII 18) or a Venetian ‘firework display’ like that seen in Tate D32229 (CCCXVIII 10),2 reflecting the variety of subjects and often nocturnal situations Turner depicted using the brown and grey papers associated with his 1840 visit for strong chiaroscuro effects.

Close examination appears to reveal arches rather than the sky at the top centre, and by comparison with pencil studies in the 1833 Venice sketchbook (Tate D32026, D32028–D32029; Turner Bequest CCCXIV 51a, 52a–53) Ian Warrell has convincingly identified the setting as the atrium or narthex which runs inside the west (entrance) front of the Basilica of San Marco (St Mark’s).3 The Zen Chapel (see Tate D32227; CCCXVIII 8) stands at its southern end, and the view here appears to be north from outside the chapel, along the passage where glittering light is reflected from the mosaics of the domes and vaults. There is a suggestion of the central Arch of Paradise on the right, while the alternating pale and dark verticals in the foreground evoke a congregation or procession up the steps leading through to the nave. Other colour studies of the interior of St Mark’s on similar mid-toned papers are Tate D32226, D32252, and perhaps D32231 (respectively CCCXVIII 7, CCCXIX 4, and CCCXVIII 12).

Robert Upstone has compared Turner’s handling here and in another St Mark’s interior (Tate D32226; Turner Bequest CCCXVIII 7) with that of the 1895–6 painting Interior of St Mark’s, Venice by Walter Richard Sickert (1860–1942; Tate N05314),4 although as discussed in the Introduction to this subsection they are not recorded as having been exhibited by then, and any resemblance is likely fortuitous.

Technical notes:

This is one of numerous 1840 Venice works Ian Warrell has noted as being on ‘Red-brown paper made at Cartieri Pietro Milani Mill, Fabriano, with a watermark showing the letter “M” accompanied by laurel leaves:1 Tate D32224, D32227, D32230, D32238–D32241, D32245–D32246, D32248, D32251, D32254 (Turner Bequest CCCXVIII 5, 8, 11, 19–22, 26, 27, 29, CCCXIX 3, 6). As Warrell has observed; the support ‘seems to be quite absorbent, so that the colours penetrate through to the back of the sheet’.2

Verso:

Blank, with staining corresponding to the darker washes on the recto; inscribed by Turner in ink ‘28’ bottom right, upside down; inscribed in pencil ‘55’ above right of centre, ascending vertically; stamped in black with Turner Bequest monogram over ‘[...]’ bottom left; inscribed in pencil ‘CCCXVIII.22’ and ‘D32241’ bottom right. For Turner’s ink numbering of many similar sheets, see the Introduction to the tour.