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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > First Italian Tour 1819-20 > St Peter's Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner View from Monte Mario, Rome, with the Ponte Molle and the River Tiber 1819

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘View from Monte Mario, Rome, with the Ponte Molle and the River Tiber’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 10 Verso:
View from Monte Mario, Rome, with the Ponte Molle and the River Tiber 1819
D16176
Turner Bequest CLXXXVIII 10 a
Pencil on white wove paper, 114 x 189 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner made a number of on-the-spot sketches and more elaborate drawings of the view of Rome from Monte Mario. This page depicts part of the prospect, the view looking north-east towards the sweeping bend of the River Tiber and the ancient Ponte Molle, also known as the Ponte Milvio. In the far distance is the mountain ridge of Monte Sorratte, known historically as Soracte. For a general discussion of Turner’s views from Monte Mario see folio 9 verso (D16174).
Turner completed a more detailed tonal drawing of the same composition (see Turner Bequest CLXXXIX 60; Tate D16391). This image confirms that the artist’s viewpoint was within the grounds of the Villa Madama, a sixteenth-century estate built for the Medici family on the eastern slopes of Monte Mario and famous for its garden loggia designed by Raphael.

Nicola Moorby
September 2008

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘View from Monte Mario, Rome, with the Ponte Molle and the River Tiber 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2008, 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-view-from-monte-mario-rome-with-the-ponte-molle-and-the-r1139685, accessed 22 November 2024.