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Works (?) Thomas Girtin and Joseph Mallord William Turner after (?) John Robert Cozens

Tivoli, with the River Aniene Below

1794 - 1797

Primary Image: TG0601: Thomas Girtin (1775–1802) and Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851), after (?) John Robert Cozens (1752–97), Tivoli: The Valley of the Aniene with the ‘Villa of Maecenas’ and the Falls, 1794–97, graphite, watercolour and scratching out on wove paper, 28.4 × 41.4 cm, 11 ⅛ × 16 ¼ in. Private Collection.

Photo courtesy of Christie's

Description
Creator(s)
(?) Thomas Girtin (1775-1802) and Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851) after (?) John Robert Cozens (1752-1797)
Title
  • Tivoli, with the River Aniene Below
Date
1794 - 1797
Medium and Support
Graphite, watercolour and scratching out on wove paper
Dimensions
28.4 × 41.4 cm, 11 ⅛ × 16 ¼ in
Object Type
Collaborations; Work from a Known Source: Contemporary British
Subject Terms
Italian View: The Roman Campagna

Collection
Catalogue Number
TG0601
Description Source(s)
Auction Catalogue

Provenance

William Leech (1837–87); his posthumous sale, Christie's, 21 May 1887, lot 86; bought by 'Mclean', 51 gns; Thomas Agnew & Sons, Manchester; Major J. B. Upton (1900–76), Hornsea, Yorkshire; then by descent; Sotheby's, 29 July 2020, lot 257 as by Joseph Mallord William Turner;  Christie’s, 4 December 2024, lot 222 as by Joseph Mallord William Turner and Thomas Girtin, £47,880

About this Work

This imposing watercolour, showing the falls of the river Aniene at Tivoli with the so-called Villa of Maecenas to the right of the overlooking hill, displays many of the signs that mark the unique collaboration between Girtin and his contemporary Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) at the home of Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833). Here they were employed across three winters, probably between 1794 and 1797, to make ‘finished drawings’ from the ‘Copies’ of the ‘outlines or unfinished drawings of Cozens’ and other artists, amateur and professional, either from Monro’s collection or lent for the purpose. As the two young artists later recalled, Girtin generally ‘drew in outlines and Turner washed in the effects’. ‘They went at 6 and staid till Ten’, and, as the diarist Joseph Farington (1747–1821) reported, Turner received ‘3s. 6d each night’, though ‘Girtin did not say what He had' (Farington, Diary, 12 November 1798).1 The need to work by candlelight may account for the generally monochrome appearance of the Monro School drawings though, as here and with other large Tivoli views such as TG0578 and TG0592, there are more colourful and highly finished examples.

The monumental structure overlooking the gorge of the river Aniene was known in the eighteenth century as the Villa of Maecenas, but it is now understood to be the Sanctuary of Hercules Victor, which was built in the second half of the first century BC. Maecenas was Gaius Cilnius Maecenas (70–8 BC), the munificent patron of the roman authors Virgil and Horace and a benefactor of the arts who consequently represented a high point of classical civilisation to British travellers to Italy. The spectacular site of the ruins were the subject of numerous views by British artists travelling to Italy including John Robert Cozens (1752–97) whose tracings and outline drawings provided Girtin and Turner with a significant number of their subjects, perhaps even the majority. Although none of Cozens’ surviving sketches depict the view adopted here on the heights above the river, looking south west, there is little doubt that it was a drawing that he made in the spring of 1777 that was the source for this work. A dated sketch showing the hilltop building and the gorge from further down the river (see TG0592 figure 2) matches the right-hand part of the composition closely.

There has been a tendency to ascribe the more colourful and highly finished Monro School landscapes solely to Turner, not least because any underlying pencil work is often effaced. Typically, this watercolour was attributed to Turner until its sale in 2024 when proper acknowledgement of the documentary evidence of the artists’ collaborative practice was made. The fact that the colouring is more substantial than was commonly the case is thankfully no longer a reason to ignore Girtin’s contribution, even if it was little more than a simple outline drawing traced from another source.

1794 - 1797

Tivoli: The ‘Temple of the Sibyl’ and the Cascades Seen from Below

TG0578

1794 - 1797

Tivoli: The ‘Villa of Maecenas’, Seen from an Elevated Viewpoint

TG0592

1794 - 1797

Tivoli: The ‘Villa of Maecenas’, Seen from an Elevated Viewpoint

TG0592

by Greg Smith

Place depicted

Footnotes

  1. 1 The full diary entry, giving crucial details of the artists’ work at Monro’s house, is transcribed in the Documents section of the Archive (1798 – Item 2).

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