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

The drawing was made with the page turned horizontally, and occupies only the left-hand third of the page, effectively forming a continuation to the right of the view from the west side of the Piazzetta into the Piazza San Marco (St Mark’s Square) on the recto (D31934). It shows part of the basilica of St Mark’s on the left, and the north-west corner of the Palazzo Ducale (Doge’s Palace) on the right, with one of the pinnacles beside the window above the Porta della Carta set back between them, all seen at an angle from the south-west. Loose marks at the corner of the palace indicate the sculptural Judgement of Solomon group at the lower level, while the cursory verticals at the left mark one of the Pilastri Acritani pillars. These features are seen in the foreground of the view out from the Porta on folio 3 recto (D31932).

Along with the main part of the prospect on the recto, the features shown on this page correspond closely with those in a detailed 1819 drawing (Tate D14399; Turner Bequest CLXXV 45) in the Milan to Venice sketchbook, made from a few steps further back. One of the studies on folio 20 verso (D31965) of the present book shows the Porta della Carta head-on between the church and palace from a little further north; compare also the 1840 watercolour study of the setting, associated with his last visit to the city (Tate D32247; Turner Bequest CCCXVIII 28).

For this sketchbook’s general sequence, including Hardy George’s broad overview,1 see its Introduction.