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 > Viterbo and Ronciglione Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Ronciglione 1828

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Ronciglione’ 1828
Folio 11 Recto:
Ronciglione 1828
D21785
Turner Bequest CCXXXVI 11
Pencil on white wove paper, 171 x 125 mm
Inscribed in blue ink by John Ruskin ‘11’ top left, ascending vertically, and ‘173’ top right, ascending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCXXXVI 11’ top right, ascending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Executed with the sketchbook turned vertically, this page contains two silhouetted profiles of Ronciglione, a town bordering Lake Vico in the Viterbo province. As noted by the geographer and Turner scholar Roland Courtot, Turner’s low viewpoint is from the depths of a ravine, facing south-west.1 The prominent tower in the upper view is likely the belltower of the Church of Santa Maria della Provvidenza. The lower view offers a similar perspective from further away.
This is one of almost a dozen works in the present sketchbook depicting Ronciglione; see under folio 8 recto (D21779) for an extended commentary and a list of relevant works.

Hannah Kaspar
December 2024

1
Roland Courtot, ‘12. Vers Rome: “Carnet de Viterbe et Ronciglione” (TB CCXXXVI)’, Carnets de voyage de Turner, accessed 15 July 2024, https://carnetswt.hypotheses.org/2312.

How to cite

Hannah Kaspar, ‘Ronciglione 1828’, catalogue entry, December 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/ronciglione-r1210554, accessed 15 April 2025.