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

The prospect is eastwards along the broad Canale della Giudecca, from a viewpoint likely towards its south side, perhaps off the Fondamenta del Ponte Piccolo about opposite the Gesuati church (out of sight to the left). In the distance at the centre is the island church of San Giorgio Maggiore; towards the left is the prominent dome of Santa Maria della Salute, catching the warm evening light,1 with the campanile of San Marco (St Mark’s) beyond to the north-east towards the far left. On the Isola della Giudecca on the right, the domes of the Zitelle and the nearer Redentore, possibly with the adjacent campanile of the lost church of San Giacomo;2 for the latter see the entry for a contemporary colour study from just off the Redentore (Tate D32141; Turner Bequest CCCXVI 4).

Ian Warrell has noted how within the year the view encompassed here would have informed the oil painting of the Giudecca, la Donna della Salute and San Georgio, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1841 (private collection):3 ‘To compensate for the fact that this watercolour ingeniously embraced an expansive field of vision, he created a more condensed approximation of space in the painting, thereby moving the Redentore to the right, beyond the frame of the image.’4

John Gage observed that among the various modes employed in this sketchbook, Tate D32134–D32137 (Turner Bequest CCCXV 18–21) ‘are in a muted range of greens and browns which seem to come from a direct experience of the subject’, whereas D32127–D32130 (CCCXV 11–14) ‘have a far more complex technique and brilliant colouring; which suggests that perhaps both modes were used interchangeably for indoor work.’5 This is symptomatic of the general issue of Turner’s direct use of colour outdoors, generally a moot point in his Venice work as it is for many other subjects, however immediate their effect.6 Andrew Wilton considered the present work ‘very similar in mood and treatment’ to D33120, D32128 and D32129 (CCCXV 4, 12, 13).7 Of these, D32128 (CCCXV 12) is a variant from further west. Lindsay Stainton described it and the present study as ‘two of the most beautiful ... irradiated with colour and reflected light’ in which forms ‘dissolve into a shimmering, opalescent mist’, along with Tate D32156 (Turner Bequest CCCXVI 19), on a separate contemporary sheet, looking northwards across the Bacino from off San Giorgio Maggiore.8

Other than noting the Giudecca setting, the Redentore and San Giorgio, John Ruskin was laconic but appreciative of this work in his 1857 commentary: ‘Very beautiful.’9 In 2008 the German-based Japanese painter and photographer Hiroyuki Masuyama (born 1968) produced an LED lightbox image based on it as one of a series reinterpreting Turner’s landscapes, combining the original composition with digitally layered photographic landscape and architectural elements.10

Technical notes:

There is no underlying pencil work, all the fine architectural detail being drawn with ‘a pen dipped in watercolour’, and some use of ‘coloured crayons’ has also been detected.1 There is scratching out along the waterfront buildings at the centre and right, including a glint off the dome of the Redentore, and an isolated accent among the shadowy figures and boats below the Salute on the left.

Verso:

Blank, save for what appears to be a dark pink colour test towards the bottom right, and blue and grey offsets towards the right, originally at the gutter of the sketchbook; inscribed in pencil ‘8’ centre; stamped in black with Turner Bequest monogram over ‘CCCXV – 11’ bottom left; inscribed in pencil ‘CCCXV – 11’ towards bottom right.