Joseph Mallord William Turner The Grand Canal, Venice, with the Rialto Bridge from near the Albergo Leon Bianco (Palazzo Cavalli); a Corner of the Leon Bianco 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 49 Recto:
The Grand Canal, Venice, with the Rialto Bridge from near the Albergo Leon Bianco (Palazzo Cavalli); a Corner of the Leon Bianco 1819
D14407
Turner Bequest CLXXV 49
Turner Bequest CLXXV 49
Pencil on white wove paper, 112 x 185 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘The Inn | of | Great Britain | [ALBERO]’ centre left on façade, upside down
Inscribed by John Ruskin in blue ink ‘49’ bottom left, upside down and ‘300’ top left, upside down
Stamped in black ‘CLXXV 49’ top left, upside down
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘The Inn | of | Great Britain | [ALBERO]’ centre left on façade, upside down
Inscribed by John Ruskin in blue ink ‘49’ bottom left, upside down and ‘300’ top left, upside down
Stamped in black ‘CLXXV 49’ top left, upside down
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.513, CLXXV 49, as ‘Continuation of previous drawing [The Rialto, with the east side of the Grand Canal]; also “The Inn of Great Britain, Albergo.”’.
1930
A.J. Finberg, In Venice with Turner, London 1930, pp.33–4, 164, as ‘Continuation, showing buildings on the left: Rinaldi, Cerroni and Tollotti palaces. Also another sketch of buildings with balconies, on the right; written at side; “The Inn of Great Britain. Auberg.”’, pl.VI, as ‘The Rialto from the Fondamenta Cavalli’ (cropped to continuation of main view, omitting outer half).
1979
Andrew Wilton, The Life and Work of J.M.W. Turner, Fribourg 1979, p.383 under no.718.
1985
Lindsay Stainton, Turner’s Venice, London 1985, p.17, fig.4, as ‘The Grand Canal, looking towards the Rialto’.
1997
Inge Herold, Turner on Tour, Munich and New York 1997, reproduced p.46 as ‘The Grand Canal, looking towards the Rialto’.
2008
James Hamilton, ‘Turner e l’Italia’ in James Hamilton, Nicola Moorby, Christopher Baker and others, Turner e l’Italia, exhibition catalogue, Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara 2008, p.42, fig.23 (colour), as ‘Il ponte di Rialto visto dell’albergo Leon Bianco’.
2009
James Hamilton, ‘Turner’s Route to Rome’ in Hamilton, Nicola Moorby, Christopher Baker and others, Turner & Italy, exhibition catalogue, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh 2009, p.40, pl.45 (colour), as ‘The Rialto Bridge from the Albergo Leone Bianco’.
Inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, the right-hand half of the page shows a continuation of the full-page view on folio 48 verso opposite (D14406). Finberg subsequently annotated his 1909 Inventory entry (‘Continuation of previous drawing [The Rialto, with the east side of the Grand Canal]; also “The Inn of Great Britain, Albergo.”’): ‘Contin- of buildings on left side. (P. Rinaldi, Cerroni & Tollotti.) also anr. sketch of bldgs. with balconies on right side – “The Inn of Great Britain. Albero (sic!) [‘Auberg’ inserted above] | Is this a study for the Farnley dg of Rialto. No. See pp.73a & 74. This is the Hakewill dg view’.1 The Turner scholar C.F. Bell annotated another copy: ‘towards the Riva del Vin’.2
The view is north-west along the north side of the Grand Canal at the Fondamenta del Vin, just short of the Rialto Bridge, shown in full on the opposite page. The Rinaldi, with the Rio Terà San Silvestro on its near side, has been considerably altered and made taller, obscuring the top of the campanile of San Giovanni Elemosinario from this angle. As Finberg noted in 1930: ‘The house next to the Rinaldi palace has now had a storey added to it, but the tall building beyond it with the wooden attics on its roofs, once the Cerroni palace I believe, and the Tol[l]otti, its neighbour, are very little altered today’.3 See under D14406 for other aspects of the scene and related views.4
The slight, narrow study the other way up at the outer edge apparently shows the east end of the canal frontage of the Palazzo Cavalli (or Corner Martinengo Ravà), then the Albergo Leon Bianco, where Turner was staying on this first visit to Venice;5 it is now a civic building. Another sketchbook Turner carried with him on this tour includes travel notes by James Hakewill (1778–1843), with whom he had been collaborating on the Picturesque Tour of Italy (published in 1820); see Nicola Moorby’s Introduction to the Route to Rome book (Tate; Turner Bequest CLXXI). Before listing various places and pictures to see, Hakewill noted: ‘Venice – Go to the Leone Bianco | on the grand Canal’ (Tate D13903; Turner Bequest CLXXI 24). The plain windows on its ground floor and the distinctive corbels at its corner remain recognisable, although the enclosed, projecting balcony structure above (likely wooden) has since been removed, revealing or replaced by an arched window and balcony matching the one to its right.6 A similar feature remains in place just around the corner on the second floor.
To the left of the Leon Bianco, in consistent perspective with its receding horizontals, is Turner’s inscription ‘The Inn | of | Great Britain | [ALBERO]’, which likely records signage at that point on the front of the Ca’ Farsetti, another hotel at that time, known also as the Auberge de la Grande Bretagne or Albergo Gran Bretagna.7 This effectively makes the isolated detail an inverted continuation from the opposite page, where several bays of the Farsetti are shown in the immediate foreground, cut off by the outer edge.
The Leon Bianco may also be shown in a slight view on folio 38 verso (D14386).
Matthew Imms
March 2017
Undated MS note by A.J. Finberg (died 1939) in interleaved copy of Finberg 1909, Tate Britain Prints and Drawings Room, I, opposite p.513.
Undated MS note by C.F. Bell (died 1966) in copy of Finberg 1909, Tate Britain Prints and Drawings Room, I, p.513.
See also Wilton 1979, p.383 under no.718, relating this drawing to a watercolour showing a slightly different view.
How to cite
Matthew Imms, ‘The Grand Canal, Venice, with the Rialto Bridge from near the Albergo Leon Bianco (Palazzo Cavalli); a Corner of the Leon Bianco 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, March 2017, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, July 2017, https://www