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

As identified by Turner’s bottom-left inscription ‘S Barnardo’, the subject of this panoramic view is the Church of San Bernardo in Nepi. Built in the fifteenth century, the building is annexed to the Monastery of Saint Bernardo.1 Its elevated position overlooking a deep ravine is shown here by Turner, whose viewpoint is facing east from the northern perimeter of the town, also perched high on the same volcanic tuff. The mountain range on the horizon is possibly Monte Soratte. This study is inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation.

This is one of twenty-one works depicting Nepi in the present sketchbook; for further commentary on Turner’s second visit to the town in 1828, together with a list of relevant works, see under folio 12 verso (D21788).