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 Inscription by Turner: Travel Itinerary Notes; Views of ?Siena 1828

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Inscription by Turner: Travel Itinerary Notes; Views of ?Siena’ 1828
Folio 14 Verso:
Inscription by Turner: Travel Itinerary Notes; Views of ?Siena 1828
D21615
Turner Bequest CCXXXIV 14a
Pencil on paper, 148 x 104 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner with various words and numbers in the upper half of the page (see main catalogue entry)
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The upper half of this page contains a list of place names from Turner’s southbound route from Siena to Rome (see below), which is inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation. As observed by Alberto Satolli, Turner noted down his planned travel itinerary several times during his stay in Siena (see also folios 16 verso and 19 verso; D21619, D21625).1 On arriving in Radicofani, he was able to predict his onward journey with greater certainty, specifying ‘Thursday Orvieto’ (see folio 26 verso; D21638).2 The notes on the present page were possibly made in consultation with a guidebook, or from personal advice prior to or during his trip.
Corresponding with the list of place names is a column of numbers to the right. Turner was possibly totting up the number of travel days required for each stage of the journey.
Radicofani [?+]
Aquap[?dente]
Bolsena Lake 2
Orvieto 3
Nepi 4
5
6 ½
V[?iterbo] 7
The constellation of dots and zigzagging lines along the vertical axis of the page is presumably a simplified map representing part of this journey. The two outlines of hilltop buildings and towers in the lower half are difficult to identify, but possibly represent Siena’s skyline.

Hannah Kaspar
November 2024

1
Alberto Satolli, ‘L’immagine di Orvietto nei disegni’ in Orvieto fuori d’Orvieto nella prima metà dell’800, 1978, p.149.
2
Ibid.

How to cite

Hannah Kaspar, ‘Inscription by Turner: Travel Itinerary Notes; Views of ?Siena 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/inscription-by-turner-travel-itinerary-notes-views-of-siena-r1210156, accessed 15 April 2025.