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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > First Italian Tour 1819-20 > Rome and Florence Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Two Views from San Paolo fuori le Mura, Rome; including the River Tiber; and a Distant View of the Tomb of Cecilia Metella 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Two Views from San Paolo fuori le Mura, Rome; including the River Tiber; and a Distant View of the Tomb of Cecilia Metella’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 10 Verso:
Two Views from San Paolo fuori le Mura, Rome; including the River Tiber; and a Distant View of the Tomb of Cecilia Metella 1819
D16503
Turner Bequest CXCI 10 a
Pencil on white wove paper, 113 x 189 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘Purple’ centre of line of mountains
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Following a systematic exploration of the eastern bank of the River Tiber from the Isola Tiberina to the outskirts of Rome, Turner made a series of panoramic drawings from San Paolo fuori le mura, the basilica church situated outside of the ancient city walls, approximately one mile south of the Porta San Paolo, see folios 10 verso–12 and 13 verso–14 (D16503–D16506 and D16509–D16510). This page contains two separate vistas. The upper landscape records the view looking east towards the distant Alban Mountains. The round tower on the left-hand side is the Tomb of Cecilia Metella on the Via Appia Antica. The lower sketch meanwhile depicts the view looking south towards the curving loop of the River Tiber. Both panoramas continue on the opposite sheet of the double-page spread, see folio 11 (D16504).

Nicola Moorby
February 2009

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Two Views from San Paolo fuori le Mura, Rome; including the River Tiber; and a Distant View of the Tomb of Cecilia Metella 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, February 2009, 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-two-views-from-san-paolo-fuori-le-mura-rome-including-the-r1138396, accessed 22 November 2024.