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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Monro School c.1794-8 > Collaborations with Thomas Girtin for Dr ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Thomas Girtin Rome: A Road beside a High Wall, with the Buildings of the Vatican Rising Beyond c.1796

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Thomas Girtin, ‘Rome: A Road beside a High Wall, with the Buildings of the Vatican Rising Beyond’ c.1796
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Thomas Girtin 1775–1802
Rome: A Road beside a High Wall, with the Buildings of the Vatican Rising Beyond c.1796
D36570
Turner Bequest CCCLXXVI 11
Pencil and watercolour on white wove paper, 220 x 190 mm
Watermark ‘J WHATMAN’
Stamped in black ‘CCCLXXVI – 11’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Provenance:
Probably commissioned by Dr Thomas Monro
Monro’s posthumous sale, Christie’s, London, 26–28 June and 1–2 July 1833 (day and lot number not known)
Bought by or on behalf of Turner
The pencil work is by Girtin. This was presumably copied from a sketch by John Robert Cozens (1752–1797). As C.F. Bell noted, the buildings shown are the Belvedere and the tower containing Bramante’s staircase, seen from below.
Verso:
Blank; inscribed by Thomas Girtin in pencil ‘Vatican’; in a later hand ‘No 6’; and in another hand ‘CONVENT (COLOR)’; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram.

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Rome: A Road beside a High Wall, with the Buildings of the Vatican Rising Beyond c.1796 by Joseph Mallord William Turner, Thomas Girtin’, catalogue entry, April 2012, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-thomas-girtin-rome-a-road-beside-a-high-wall-with-the-r1141297, accessed 02 January 2025.