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

Unidentified Fortifications on a Rocky Outcrop, Possibly on the Island of Capri

1794 - 1797

Primary Image: TG0573: Thomas Girtin (1775–1802) and Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851), after (?) John Robert Cozens (1752–97), Unidentified Fortifications on a Rocky Outcrop, Possibly on the Island of Capri, 1794–97, graphite and watercolour on wove paper, 29.7 × 48 cm, 11 ¾ × 18 ⅞ in. Tate, Turner Bequest CCCLXXV, 6 (D36527).

Photo courtesy of Tate (All Rights Reserved)

Description
Creator(s)
Thomas Girtin (1775-1802) and Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851) after (?) John Robert Cozens (1752-1797)
Title
  • Unidentified Fortifications on a Rocky Outcrop, Possibly on the Island of Capri
Date
1794 - 1797
Medium and Support
Graphite and watercolour on wove paper
Dimensions
29.7 × 48 cm, 11 ¾ × 18 ⅞ in
Object Type
Collaborations; Monro School Copy
Subject Terms
Italian View: Naples and Environs

Collection
Catalogue Number
TG0573
Description Source(s)
Viewed in November 2017

Provenance

Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833); his posthumous sale, Christie's, 26–28 June and 1–2 July 1833 (day and lot number not known); bought by Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851); accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest, 1856

Exhibition History

National Gallery, London, on display up to 1904, no.527 as ’Study of Rocks near Tivoli’

Bibliography

Ruskin, Works, vol.13, p.255, p.366, p.633; Finberg, 1909, vol.2, p.1234 as 'Study of rocks near Tivoli' by Thomas Girtin; MacColl, 1920, p.136; Wilton, 1984a, p.16 as 'View of Tivoli'; Turner Online as 'A Waterfall at Tivoli, with a Distant Mountain' by Joseph Mallord William Turner and Thomas Girtin (Accessed 07/09/2022)

About this Work

This view of an unidentified set of hill fortifications 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’, which may account for the generally monochrome appearance of the works, 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 subject of this view has not been conclusively identified, despite considerable efforts, and neither has a source been found amongst the compositions of John Robert Cozens (1752–97) – nor, indeed, any of the numerous British artists, amateur and professional, working in Italy at this date. The watercolour is titled ‘A Waterfall at Tivoli, with a Distant Mountain’ in the online catalogue of the Turner Bequest on the grounds that the towers at the top left ‘appear in drawings’ that depict the Rocca Pia, the fifteenth-century castle in Tivoli seen in TG0580 and TG0581) (D36527). In fact, the towers of the Rocca Pia are quite different in form and are not attached by an arch to a subsidiary building, and the castle itself is situated in the centre of the town, well away from the cliffs and the falls of the Aniene. The discovery during the preparation of this online catalogue that a similar view of a mountain fortress depicts the Castello Barbarossa, on the island of Capri (TG0663), opens up a more realistic alternative, however. It has not been possible to find an exact match between this view of a castle and the spectacularly sited fortifications on Capri, but the mountainous scenery certainly accords with the island, and the distant mountain seen in the watercolour may depict Vesuvius.

Monro’s posthumous sale, in 1833, contained numerous Italian scenes attributed to Turner, many of which were acquired by the artist himself, as here. The cataloguer of the Turner Bequest, Alexander Finberg, thought that Girtin alone was responsible for watercolours such as this example, whilst more recently Andrew Wilton has established their joint authorship (Finberg, 1909, vol.2, p.1234; Wilton, 1984a, pp.8–23). Identifying the division of labour within Monro School drawings is considerably helped, as here, when the colour washes leave much of the pencil work showing through, and, though in this case it is not of the highest quality, there is little doubt that it is by Girtin. Turner’s application of blue and grey washes is also a little crude in places, particularly in the rocks. However, despite the fact that the issue has been clouded by the work’s faded condition, the result of being exhibited for a long period at high light levels, it is typical of the appearance of the larger-sized Monro School compositions. Working on a bigger scale, neither artist was able to invest enough time to render the subject with the same subtlety that is displayed in the two views that actually do show the Rocca Pia (TG0580 and TG0581). Given the size of the work, one might expect it to have been copied from a finished watercolour, but Cozens sketched his subjects on a large scale too, as in Part of the Vatican (see source image TG0569), which is dated 23 January 1777. It is therefore entirely plausible that even the biggest Monro School drawings, such as this, were copied from simple outlines made on Cozens’ first trip to the Naples area, later in 1777.

1794 - 1797

Tivoli: The Rocca Pia, from the North West

TG0580

1794 - 1797

Tivoli: The Rocca Pia, from the South West

TG0581

1794 - 1797

Capri: A View over the Eastern Promontory to the Bay of Salerno, with Steps Leading to the Castello Barbarossa

TG0663

1794 - 1797

Tivoli: The Rocca Pia, from the North West

TG0580

1794 - 1797

Tivoli: The Rocca Pia, from the South West

TG0581

1794 - 1797

The Vatican: The Wall of the Giardino della Pigna and the Belvedere

TG0569

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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