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

As noted by the Turner scholars Cecilia Powell and Roland Courtot, the subject of this rough sketch is Ronciglione, a town bordering Lake Vico in the Viterbo province.1 Skimming the top of the page, at the centre of the vista, is the domed profile of the Cathedral of Santi Pietro e Caterina, its belltower partially cropped out. Turner’s low viewpoint is from the depths of a ravine, looking up towards the town’s eastern side and the slopes of the volcanic rock on which it is perched. The roughly defined structure in the foreground appears to be a watermill.

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.