Joseph Mallord William Turner The Rialto Bridge on the Grand Canal, Venice, with the Fondaco dei Tedeschi Beyond 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 78 Verso:
The Rialto Bridge on the Grand Canal, Venice, with the Fondaco dei Tedeschi Beyond 1819
D14465
Turner Bequest CLXXV 78a
Turner Bequest CLXXV 78a
Pencil on white wove paper, 112 x 185 mm
Partial watermark ‘lee | 13’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Cap Red’ towards bottom left, above figure, ‘[?del ...]’ right of centre, perhaps on sign, and ‘Fish Market’ centre right
Inscribed in pencil ‘78a’ top right
Partial watermark ‘lee | 13’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Cap Red’ towards bottom left, above figure, ‘[?del ...]’ right of centre, perhaps on sign, and ‘Fish Market’ centre right
Inscribed in pencil ‘78a’ top right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Exhibition history
1974
Turner 1775–1851, Royal Academy, London, November 1974–March 1975 (208, as ‘Venice: The Rialto Bridge’).
References
1909
A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, London 1909, vol.I, p.515, CLXXV 78a, as ‘Ponte di Rialto, with Fondaco de’ Tedeschi and other buildings seen through its arch’.
1930
A.J. Finberg, In Venice with Turner, London 1930, p.166, as ‘Part of the Rialto, with the Riva del Carbon, from the Riva del Vin. “Fish Market.”’.
1974
Martin Butlin in Butlin, Andrew Wilton and John Gage, Turner 1775–1851, exhibition catalogue, Royal Academy, London 1974, p.86 no.208, as ‘Venice: the Rialto Bridge’.
1974
Gerald Wilkinson, The Sketches of Turner, R.A. 1802–20: Genius of the Romantic, London 1974, reproduced p.183, as ‘Rialto Bridge’.
1984
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984, p.152 under no.245.
2012
Niamh Mac Nally in Anne Hodge and Mac Nally, The Works of J.M.W. Turner at the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin 2012, fig.44, as ‘The Rialto Bridge from the South’.
The viewpoint is below the north end of the south-west side of the bridge, looking diagonally eastwards through its single arch. On the right on this page are buildings on the Riva del Ferro, remaining much the same today. The balcony at the top right now belongs to the Hotel Rialto, while the tall, narrow arch at the centre is at the entrance to the Calle Bombasei. The upper level of the buildings and their roofs is continued as a separate detail on the opposite page. There is a quick sketch made from the foot of the steps to the bridge on this side in the contemporary Route to Rome sketchbook (Tate D13870; Turner Bequest CLXXI 6a), taking in the whole of the bridge itself set against a cursory version of the skyline.
Although Martin Butlin2 related the overall view to the very large but unfinished painting The Rialto, Venice of about 1820 (Tate N05543),3 it shows a prospect under the bridge looking in the opposite direction based on the drawing on folios 80 verso–81 recto (D14469–D14470), and is discussed under those pages.
For other drawings made in the vicinity and an overview of Turner’s coverage of Venice, see the sketchbook’s Introduction.
Matthew Imms
March 2017
How to cite
Matthew Imms, ‘The Rialto Bridge on the Grand Canal, Venice, with the Fondaco dei Tedeschi Beyond 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