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

The geographer and Turner researcher Roland Courtot has identified Turin as the subject of this panoramic vista.1 Turner arrived in the city from Milan in mid-January 1829, before continuing westwards and crossing the Alps. He had previously visited Turin in 1819 during the outward leg of his first Italian tour: for further commentary and a list of relevant works, see Nicola Moorby’s entry for the Turin, Como, Lugarno, Maggiore sketchbook in the present catalogue (Tate D14166; Turner Bequest CLXXIV 11).

Turner’s elevated vantage point for this study was from the Monte dei Cappuccini hill to the east of Turin, which is surmounted by the Church of Santa Maria del Monte. Looking northwards across the River Po, he observed the five arches of the Ponte Vittorio Emanuele I, constructed from 1810. In the bottom-right corner, the cylindrical structure in the foreground is the Church of Gran Madre di Dio, a Neoclassical church constructed between 1818 and 1831. Turner’s rough sketch appears to show the building in a state of incompletion, before the domed roof was installed.2 The major thoroughfare across the river, to the left, is now known as the Piazza Vittorio Veneto. Completed in 1825, when it was known as the Piazza Vittorio Emanuele I, it was a recent development at the time of Turner’s visit. Visible on the horizon are the distant Alps.

This is the first of thirteen works depicting Turin dispersed throughout the sketchbook, several of which are also from the Monte dei Cappuccini hill: see also folios 8 verso–10 recto, 12 verso, 13 verso–14 verso, 16 verso–17 recto and 55 verso–56 recto (D21679–D21682, D21687, D21689–D21691, D21695–D21696, D21753–D21754).