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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Vignette watercolours c.1826-1843 > Miscellaneous Vignette Studies > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Pine Trees, Italy c.1832-42

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Pine Trees, Italy’ c.1832-42
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Pine Trees, Italy circa 1832–42
D27653
Turner Bequest CCLXXX 136
Watercolour, approximately 155 x 185 mm on board, 173 x 218 mm
Inscribed by unknown hand in pencil ‘CCLXXX 136’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCLXXX 136’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This loose watercolour study may have been inspired by a sketch of pine trees that Turner made in his Albano, Nemi, Rome sketchbook of 1819 (see Tate D15327; Turner Bequest CLXXXII 18). A number of broadly drawn pine trees occupy the centre of the subject, while horizontal areas of pale blue paint suggest water in the foreground and mountains in the distance. Although the exact subject and intended purpose remain unknown the work is generally associated with Turner’s vignette projects. Owing to the Italianate theme, Jan Piggott has previously linked it to Turner’s series of illustrations for Rogers’s Italy (1830).1 However, the style, support and colouring suggest a later date, in line with a number of other watercolours of Continental landscapes (see Tate D27540; Turner Bequest CCLXXX 23).
1
Piggott 1993, p.96.
Technical notes:
The watercolour was exhibited as part of the second loan collection, selected by Ralph Nicholson Wornum and exhibited in various venues outside of London at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries.1 Unfortunately, like many of works in the loan collection tours, the watercolour has suffered from overexposure and is now badly faded.
1
Ibid.
Verso:
?Blank. Pasted to support.

Meredith Gamer
August 2006

How to cite

Meredith Gamer, ‘Pine Trees, Italy c.1832–42 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, August 2006, 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-pine-trees-italy-r1133873, accessed 21 November 2024.