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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Second Italian Tour 1828-9 > Florence to Orvieto Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Fortress near ?Staggia Senese, with a Shrine and Bridge 1828

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Fortress near ?Staggia Senese, with a Shrine and Bridge’ 1828
Folio 9 Verso:
A Fortress near ?Staggia Senese, with a Shrine and Bridge 1828
D21605
Turner Bequest CCXXXIV 9a
Pencil on paper, 104 x 148 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘Ca[?rnepé] [?House] 7’ Length’ across top, ‘Pobba’ towards top right, descending vertically, and ‘Poggibonsi’ towards bottom left
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
As implied by Turner’s lower inscription, these hilltop fortifications presumably lie near the Tuscan town of ‘Poggibonsi’, which he encountered along his route from Florence to Siena. For further views of this subject, see folios 6 verso, 7 recto and verso, and 8 recto (D21599–D21602).
Dominating the page is a hilltop fortress dotted with rows of small windows, executed with the sketchbook turned horizontally. It is tentatively identified here as the fortified medieval castle known as La Rocca di Staggia in Staggia Senese, south-east of Poggibonsi: see also folios 10 recto opposite and 11 verso (D21606, D21609). The meaning of the two inscriptions above and to the right is unclear.
The arched structure in the bottom-left corner appears to be a roadside shrine enclosing a cross. It lies along the Via Francigena, a medieval pilgrimage route followed by travellers from the north as they proceeded towards Rome.1 In the bottom-right corner is a multi-arched bridge with a road curving into the distance, enclosed within a rectangular panel.

Hannah Kaspar
November 2024

1
‘Full Via Francigena | From Lucca to Rome’, CaminoWays, accessed 24 June 2024, https://caminoways.com/via-francigena/via-francigena-from-lucca-to-rome.

How to cite

Hannah Kaspar, ‘A Fortress near ?Staggia Senese, with a Shrine and Bridge 1828’, catalogue entry, November 2024, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, February 2025, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/a-fortress-near-staggia-senese-with-a-shrine-and-bridge-r1210146, accessed 15 April 2025.