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

This panoramic vista of Rome continues onto folio 6 recto opposite (D14842), filling the double-page spread of the sketchbook. Turner’s vantage point is from the Aventine Hill, which borders the River Tiber and lies south-west of the Forum and the Colosseum. Whereas the prospect on the previous double-page spread (folios 4 verso–5 recto; D14839–D14840) offers a north-west perspective from the Aventine Hill, taking in the Trastevere district and the distant Basilica of San Pietro in the Vatican, the viewpoint here shifts further to the north.

The two distant domes at the centre of the page belong to the Basilica of Sant’Andrea della Valle and the Church of Santi Biagio e Carlo ai Catinari, near the Piazza Navona. The partially destroyed bridge in the foreground is the Pons Aemilius, also known as the Ponte Rotto, or ‘broken bridge’. First constructed in stone in the first century BC, it was continually damaged by the powerful current and repeatedly reconstructed over later centuries, including to designs by Michelangelo in the sixteenth century.1 A flood in 1598 destroyed about half of the bridge, leaving the partially incomplete structure sketched here by Turner. In 1887, two of the three arches were destroyed to make room for the Ponte Palatino, which still stands today. The view extends further eastwards on the opposite page, encompassing the Isola Tiberina and the distant Capitoline Hill.

As noted by Cecilia Powell, this work is among five pages in the present sketchbook depicting Rome from Mount Aventine (see also folios 4 verso–5 recto, 6 recto and 7 recto; D14839–D14840, D14842–D14843). Turner later drew inspiration from these pencil studies for his oil painting Rome, from Mount Aventine (private collection).2 Commissioned by his friend and patron Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro of Novar, the work was exhibited at the Royal Academy, London, in 1836.

Turner also produced a handful of studies of Rome in the Viterbo and Ronciglione sketchbook from the same tour (Tate D21809, D21824–D21826, D21829; Turner Bequest CCXXXVI
23, 32a–33a, 36). Turner’s relatively limited study of Rome in 1828–9 stands in stark contrast to his prolific effort in 1819–20; nine sketchbooks from this period contain views and studies relating to Rome and the surrounding campagna: see Nicola Moorby’s introduction to the ‘First Italian Tour 1819–20’ section of the present catalogue.