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 > Return from Italy Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Crossing and Dome of the Duomo, Parma 1820

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Crossing and Dome of the Duomo, Parma’ 1820
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 10 Recto:
The Crossing and Dome of the Duomo, Parma 1820
D16659
Turner Bequest CXCII 10
Pencil on white wove paper, 98 x 128 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘10’ top right, ascending right-hand edge
Stamped in black ‘CXCII 10’ top right, ascending right-hand edge
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This sketch is one of a series of interior views of the Duomo (cathedral) of Parma, see folios 9 verso–10 verso (D16658–D16660). The subject is the crossing of the Duomo with part of the famous dome decorated with frescoes by Antonio Correggio (1489–1534). Turner’s viewpoint appears to be the south transept looking through the crossing towards the nave. Visible near the top centre of the composition is one of the four spandrels situated beneath the dome, respectively adorned with paintings of the four patron saints of Parma. The figure represented in this view may be that of John the Baptist. Above the spandrel are three of the eight circular windows punctuating the drum and figures from the lower part of Correggio’s fresco, The Assumption of the Virgin 1526–30.
Turner also made studies of the exterior of the Duomo, see folio 5 verso (D16650).

Nicola Moorby
April 2013

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘The Crossing and Dome of the Duomo, Parma 1820 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, August 2013, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-the-crossing-and-dome-of-the-duomo-parma-r1142558, accessed 22 November 2024.