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

This study depicts a view of the so-called Tempio della Tosse (Temple of the Cough), a circular structure near the ancient route of the Via Tiburtina (present-day Strada degli Orti), believed to be the vestibule of a Roman villa. Turner’s viewpoint appears to be looking downhill from the ascent towards the nearby Santuario di Ercole Vincitore (Sanctuary of Hercules Victor), a ruined temple complex dating from the first century BC, formerly known as the Villa of Maecenas. This is probably the architectural remains visible in the top right-hand corner of the sketch, including the column base on the edge of a shelf of land. In the distance is the flat plain of the Campagna west of Tivoli, looking towards Rome. A similar view appears in a near-contemporaneous drawing by Turner’s friend and collaborator, James Hakewill (1778–1843), At Tivoli near the Villa of Macenas, ?1817 (British School at Rome Library).1 Like many drawings within this sketchbook, the composition has been executed over a washed grey background. Turner has created highlights by rubbing or lifting out the wash to reveal the white paper beneath, principally to delineate the buildings and the sky.

The Tempio della Tosse was a popular artistic motif during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the most famous example being an etching by Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720–1778), Veduta del Tempio, detta della Tosse for the Vedute di Roma.2 As a young man, Turner had made a watercolour copy of an image featuring the ruin, see Dr Monro’s Album of Italian Views (Tate D36448; Turner Bequest CCCLXXIII 35). Further studies dating from the 1819 tour can be found on folios 12 and 13 (D15478 and D15479).

Verso:
Blank, except for traces of grey watercolour wash
Inscribed by ?John Ruskin in red ink ‘340’ bottom left