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

This view departs somewhat from the reality of the view from the Grand Canal just west of the church of Santa Maria della Salute, the north porch of which obtrudes at the right-hand edge, while the porch of the Dogana, about half way towards the centre, is largely obscured in reality from this point by the north side of the building. Meanwhile, the campanile of San Marco (St Mark’s) appears to the north-west, its height seemingly exaggerated.

The present loosely worked sheet appears to relate compositionally to the highly finished painting Venice, from the Porch of Madonna della Salute, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1835 (Metropolitan Museum, New York; engraved 1838 as ‘The Grand Canal, Venice’: Tate impression T05787; and again 1859–61: T06341),1 where the portico is more prominent, and the height of the campanile appears even more emphasised. Lindsay Stainton noted that the watercolour ‘closely resembles’ the oil, but suggested that this is ‘coincidental’ given the developing consensus that the Venice grey paper sheets date from 1840.2 The Turner scholar C.F. Bell had annotated Finberg’s 1909 Inventory entry (‘Steps of the Salute, with the Dogana’): ‘Campanile carefully drawn (without scaffolding)’.3 Various drawings and watercolours do clearly show the temporary platforms around the spire in place in 1840 (but not in 1833; see the Introduction to the present tour), but Stainton suggested that the artist ‘could simply have omitted it for aesthetic reasons’.4

Albeit acknowledging the possibility that this sheet may have acted as a ‘rudimentary colour sketch’ to inform the painting, and thus stem from the earlier trip,5 Ian Warrell has noted that the fact that while it, Tate D32207 and D32209 (Turner Bequest CCCXVII 22, 24, also in this subsection) apparently ‘set out the compositions of paintings exhibited at the Royal Academy before the 1840 visit’, they ‘could be interpreted as instances of Turner revisiting a subject he had already treated’.6 Which came first in this case remains a moot point, as the numerous differences in the disposition of the shipping, proportions and other details make it clear that the one was not a precise transcription of the other. Compare also Tate D32205 (Turner Bequest CCCXVII 20), which echoes a painting exhibited just before the 1833 stay.

Technical notes:

Vertical striations are evident in the sheet, especially towards the left.

As discussed in the Introduction to this subsection, in the context of Turner’s 1833 Continental tour including Venice, Ian Warrell has noted his use of grey paper by Bally, Ellen and Steart,1 ‘from at least four different batches’, and it is ‘possible’ that Tate D32205–D32210 (Turner Bequest CCCXVII 20–25), including the present subject, relate to that occasion,2 or 1840, when similar paper was used extensively (see Tate D32180–D32181, D32183–D32184, D32200–D32201, D32203–D32204, D32212, D32215, D32217, D33883; Turner Bequest CCCXVII 1, 2, 4, 5, 15, 16, 18, 19, 27–30, 32, CCCXLI 183).3

Verso:

Blank; inscribed in pencil ‘24’ above centre, ascending vertically; stamped in black with Turner Bequest monogram over ‘CCCXVII – 23’ towards bottom left; inscribed in pencil ‘D32208’ and ‘CCCXVII.23’ bottom right.