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

Finberg later annotated his 1909 Inventory entry (‘The Piazza, from the Arches of the Ducal Palace’), crossing out the last four words and adding ‘under the west wing of the Royal Palace’,1 likely prompted by Turner scholar C.F. Bell’s similar note.2

The viewpoint is the ground floor of the former Palazzo Reale, also known as the Ala Napoleonica and now housing the Museo Correr, at the west end of the Piazza San Marco (St Mark’s Square), looking out from the deep shade of the classical arcade leading from the square to the Calle Larga dell’Ascensione. On the right, the view is to the east-north-east, through the length of the arcade under the Procuratie Nuove along the south side of the square. Looking to the left, the square is seen to the north-east in strong afternoon light, possibly with slight indications of the Basilica at the far end.

Loose, swirling marks including strong touches of orange across the foreground appear to indicate figures passing through; assuming they are intended as adults, they are on about half the actual scale of their immediate setting, lending grandeur to the relatively modest archway (an effect the young Turner had sometimes employed even in his cathedral interiors3). Compare D32245 (Turner Bequest CCCXVIII 26), a larger, vertical variant on red-brown paper from a little to the left, looking out into the square to the campanile and Basilica, which form the focus of the scene through a central arch. Ian Warrell has observed that such views from enclosed, darkened viewpoints ‘ultimately derived from Canaletto, who had used similar devices in some of his drawings and prints’.4 See for example the upright pendant paintings, Two Views of Piazza San Marco, of about 1756 and 1758 (National Gallery, London).

Technical notes:

This is one of numerous 1840 Venice works Ian Warrell has noted as being on ‘Grey-brown paper produced by an unknown maker (possibly ... a batch made at Fabriano [Italy])’;1 for numerous red-brown Fabriano sheets used for similar subjects, see for example under Tate D32224 (Turner Bequest CCCXVIII 5).

Warrell noted the grey-brown sheets as being torn into two formats: nine sheets of approximately 148 x 232 mm (Tate D32220, D32249–D32250, D32252–D32253, D32255–D32258; Turner Bequest CCCXVIII 1, CCCXIX 1, 2, 4, 5, 7–10), and seven of twice the size, at about 231 x 295 mm (Tate D32223, D32226, D32228–D32229, D32231, D32233, D32242 (Turner Bequest CCCXVIII 4, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14, 23).

Verso:

Blank; inscribed in pencil ‘CCCXIX [...]’ and ‘D32255’ bottom right; Finberg recorded Turner’s inscription in ink ‘6’,1 although this not readily evident and presumably obscured by the present mount. For Turner’s various annotations to 1840 Venice sheets, see the overall Introduction to the tour.