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

Looking east-north-east along the Grand Canal from off the Ca’ Foscari, the Palazzo Balbi stands in the left foreground, shown without the characteristic twin obelisks above its façade. The slightly undulating, continuous waterfront on left is not much differentiated until slight indications of the obelisks of the Palazzo Papadopoli just to the left of where the Rialto Bridge closes the prospect along the canal, with the campanile of San Bartolomeo beside it. Just to the right is the sunlit dome of the large church of Santi Giovanni e Paolo,1 about half as far again beyond the bridge from this viewpoint.

Coming back along the opposite side towards the right, there is again little differentiation before the Mocenigo palaces come into more focus towards the right, with the Palazzo Contarini della Figura the last before the start of the bend to the south, and the lower Gothic Palazzo Erizzo Nani Mocenigo on the far right. Early afternoon light apparently strikes diagonally across these last frontages, running south-west to north-east, with an immediacy suggesting direct observation. Turner had made a detailed pencil survey of the whole prospect from a similar point in his 1819 Milan to Venice sketchbook (Tate D14452–D14453; Turner Bequest CLXXV 71a–72).2 Ian Warrell has noted the perhaps more than fortuitous echo of one of Canaletto’s well-known views.3

Tate D32118 (Turner Bequest CCCXV 2) in the present book is a view in the same direction from much closer to the bridge, while D32117 (CCCXV 1) shows the complementary view back to the Ca’ Foscari.4 The watercolour Palazzo Balbi on the Grand Canal (National Gallery of Scotland)5 is a contemporary variant of the present subject, rather laterally condensed to suit the squarer format of its pale buff sheet; the left-hand side is arranged in much the same way but the canal is shown proportionately narrower, with the façades of the palaces on the right receding much more obliquely. Warrell has pointed out that Turner’s younger contemporary William Callow (1812–1908), in Venice independently at this time, made a watercolour of much the same view dated 3 September 1840 (the day Turner left the city after a fortnight) showing ‘the low bulk of a trabaccolo’ sailing coaster moored in the left foreground, ‘also evident, if only summarily’ just beyond the Balbi in the present work.6

John Gage observed that among the various modes employed in this sketchbook, D32134–D32137 (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.’7 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 direct their effect.8 Ian Warrell has reasonably suggested that in this instance ‘it is difficult to believe that the delicate touches of paint defining the windows, balconies and roof tiles were not informed by close study on location. Indeed, this is also the case for many of the other watercolour views of the Grand Canal’ in this book,9 such as D31119, D32132, D32135 and D32178 (CCCXV 3, 16, 19, CCCXVI 41).10

Finberg criticised the varied handling, suggesting that Turner’s ‘powers of concentration were quickly exhausted’ by complex Grand Canal scenes such as this and another page of this book, D32131 (CCCXV 15): ‘As soon as he had established ... the Balbi Palace and Rialto, ... his interest seems to have petered out, and nearly everything else ... is left vague and confused.’11 Lindsay Stainton described the technique as ‘very summary’ and noted ‘similarities of colour and handling’ with D32137 (CCCXV 21), a nearby subject,12 while Warrell has compared the water’s ‘aquamarine tones’ with those in D32131.13

Warrell has noted this page as among about half the views associated with this sketchbook depicting the ‘long canyon of palaces’ winding north and south of the Rialto Bridge along the ‘central part’ of the Grand Canal: D32117–D32119, D32123, D32131, D32132, D32134–D32137 (Turner Bequest CCCXV 1, 2, 3, 7, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21).14 See also D32121, D32122 and D32124 (CCCXV 5, 6, 8), showing scenes near its north-west and south-east ends, and D32178 (CCCXVI 41), a central subject now also linked to the book. For sites beyond the Grand Canal, see the sketchbook’s Introduction.

Technical notes:

Free pencil work underlies the washes, with architectural details brought into tighter focus through selective ‘drawing’ with strokes and touches of a fine brush using pale brown, reinforced with a denser mixture for the sharp shadows around the window apertures on the left, and within the light-filled shadows on the right.

There is a thin strip down the left-hand edge where similar colours have been carried over or offset, presumably from another design which was directly opposite when the sketchbook was intact, showing that Turner did not always work consistently on the rectos, as the Turner Bequest numbering of dismembered books such as this one might imply.

Verso:

Blank, save for some light spotting of blue colour at the top right and grey mottling towards the bottom left, presumably offset or splashed from another page; inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘Book No.13’ bottom left (now partly obscure by mount); inscribed in pencil ‘D32136’ towards bottom right.