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

This summary but readily intelligible, largely monochrome study shows the interior of a Venetian theatre, as tentatively suggested by Finberg,1 with the stage and its proscenium to the right, flanked by tiers of boxes to the left, evoked largely in pale washes of white against the warmth of the buff paper, with dark accents for the audience in the foreground and a single stroke of red applied over a white base for one of the figures on the stage. As Lindsay Stainton has noted, the ‘dark-toned paper and sweeping highlights of opaque bodycolour are perfectly suited to such subjects, which Turner clearly found exciting’.2 Other works in this grouping have been connected with theatrical performances or dramatic literary subjects with varying degrees of likelihood (see Tate D32223, D32228, D32231, D32236, D32239; Turner Bequest CCCXVIII 4, 9, 12, 17, 20).3

Andrew Wilton, noting Turner’s love of music and lack of Italian, has suggested that he might have been more appreciative of an opera performance than a play in that language.4 Ian Warrell has detailed the venues open in the late summer of 1840, noting that the famous Fenice opera house only operated during the winter, leaving the San Samuele, Apollo and Malibran theatres as possibilities.5 He has suggested that the conspicuous red of the distant figure might indicate ‘something bloody’, perhaps relating to Rossini’s opera Otello at the Malibran on 28 August, or part of Donizetti’s dramatic opera Belisario at the San Samuele on the following night.6 See under D32228 and D32236, already noted, for possible links to Shakespeare’s Othello (subtitled ‘the Moor of Venice’).

Compare a detailed drawing of about 1796 showing the interior of London’s King’s Theatre, Haymarket (Tate D01899; Turner Bequest XLIV W), and a rapid study in the 1832 Paris and Environs sketchbook showing the Paris Operá from the auditorium, presumably on the occasion of a performance (Tate D24179; Turner Bequest CCLVII 7). Likely fortuitously, the exterior of the Fenice appears in a pencil drawing of the adjacent canals in the 1840 Venice and Botzen sketchbook (Tate D31826; Turner Bequest CCCXIII 18a).

Technical notes:

Ian Warrell has described this as a single instance of this type of ‘Warm buff paper’ among the 1840 Italian sheets, ‘possibly made at the mills at Fabriano, but a different colour’1 from more numerous red-brown sheets (for example Tate D32224, Turner Bequest CCCXVIII 5, under which others are listed).2

Verso:

Blank, with staining from the darker parts of the recto; inscribed by Turner in ink ‘24’ (now faint) bottom right, upside down; inscribed in pencil ‘Solid’ above centre; inscribed in pencil ‘51’ centre, ascending vertically; stamped in black with Turner Bequest monogram over ‘CCCXVIII – 18’ bottom left; inscribed in pencil ‘CCCXVIII.18’ and ‘D32237’ bottom right. For Turner’s ink numbering of many similar sheets, see the Introduction to the tour.