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

Executed with the sketchbook turned vertically, this page contains two variant views of Ronciglione, a town bordering Lake Vico in the Viterbo province. As noted by the Turner scholars Cecilia Powell and Roland Courtot, at the centre of both views is the Cathedral of Santi Pietro e Caterina, its dome and belltower outlined in profile.1 Turner’s low viewpoint is from the depths of a ravine, looking up towards the eastern façade of the town and the volcanic rock on which it is perched. The structure in the foreground appears to be a mill.

This is one of almost a dozen works in the present sketchbook depicting Ronciglione; see under folio 8 recto (D21779) for an extended commentary and a list of relevant works.