Joseph Mallord William Turner R.A.

Walter Ramsden Hawkesworth Fawkes (1769-1825);
By descent to the Revd. Ayscough Fawkes, his sale, London, Christie's, 27 June 1890, lot 54 (bt. Sir Donald Currie Bt. (1825-1909));
By descent

Leeds, Music Hall, An Exhibition of Miscellaneous Works of Art, 1839, no. 81;
Paris, Grand Palais in association with The British Council, J.M.W. Turner at the Grand Palais, October 1983 - January 1984, no. 150, p. 222;
London, Tate Gallery & Texas, Fort Worth, Kimbell Museum of Art, Turner and Venice, October 2003 - May 2004, no. 65, fig. 94, p.100;
Budapest, Museum of Fine Arts, Turner and Italy, July - October 2009, pp. 61 & 62

Sir W. Armstrong, Turner, London 1902, p. 282;
A.J. Finberg, In Venice with Turner, London 1930, p. 69, pp.77, 159;
A.J. Finberg, The Life of J.M.W. Turner, London 1939, 1961 edition, pp. 271, 272, 504, no. 522;
A. Wilton, The Life and Work of J.M.W. Turner, London 1979, no. 721, p. 383, pl. 146

Condition report provided by Jane McAusland FIIC Support Turner has used a sheet of wove Whatman paper with a watermark showing in the top half of the watercolour. At present it is lined with Japan paper and given a false margin of a modern laid paper. There are two slight horizontal surface scratches to the left of the flag on the left hand boat, and another smaller scratch on the right-hand side at the same level. The condition is very good. Medium Turner's pigments are in a good condition, especially bright in the foreground, but there is some loss of strength in the more delicate tints. A pigment has oxidised in the water on the left half of the foreground, this shows as a slightly mottled brown. Note This work was viewed outside studio conditions
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This view shows the first glimpse of Venice for any traveller approaching the city before the railway bridge from Mestre was built in the early 1840's. From Fusina, the journey by gondola took about an hour and half across the water and this view records Turner's earliest visit and his first sight of Venice in September 1819. He was there for just a few days, probably arriving on 8^th and leaving for Rome on 13^th September. He was aged forty-four and he returned just twice more in 1833 and 1840, Venice becoming his most popular subject between 1833 and 1846.

The watercolour is dated 1821 and its composition and detail is based upon untraced sketches. The first crossing to Venice would have been a momentous occasion and studies for this watercolour may simply be lost, but it has also been suggested that their absence could be due to Turner making the crossing at night. We know that Turner would have anticipated this view having seen a fairly basic but nonetheless striking drawing of 1817 by James Hakewill. Hakewill was an amateur artist who certainly offered guidance to Turner before he travelled, and included in a published notebook recommendations to stay at the Albergo Leon Bianco on arrival. Furthermore, before this 1819 trip, Hakewill's drawings had provided the means for Turner to produce Italian subjects for prints. Turner's excitement at the prospect of his first view of Venice was fuelled by the diary of the Royal Academy student Henry Sass who had, like Hakewill, travelled to Italy in 1817, and whose published book was known to be part of Turner's library. Sass wrote `On our arrival at Fusina, a phenomenon struck our sight in the appearance of a city, with all its domes and spires, rising from the sea'.

William Hazlitt's notes of his journey through France and Italy, published in 1824, gave a more detailed account (see The Complete Works of William Hazlitt, published anonymously, 1824, p.267-7). He wrote `There is a period of considerable and painful suspense, till you arrive at Fusina, where you are put into a boat and rowed down one of the lagunes, where over banks of rank grass and reeds, and between solitary sentry-boxes at different intervals, you see Venice rising from the sea. For an hour and a half, that it takes you to cross from the last point of land to this Spouse of the Adriatic, its long line of spires, towers, churches, wharfs is stretched along the water's edge, and you view it
with a mixture of awe and incredulity'. He continues, `if it were on firm land, it would rank as one of the first cities in Europe for magnificence, size and beauty; as it is it is without a rival'.

Turner's treatment of the city itself is delicate and light, the main buildings seemingly floating, 'rising from the sea' as Sass described it. Close examination shows that Turner has used stopping out to suggest the shapes and then reinforced them by drawing with thin brushstrokes of blue, ochre and occasional pink strokes, then below turning the brushstrokes horizontal which mixed with stopping out achieves this brilliant distant view across the water. 

On the water are many vessels. Sass wrote `innumerable gondolas were passing in every direction...the landing places were crowded with people as the water was with boats, and all was bustle and activity'. In the foreground Turner adds to the watercolour washes, touches of bodycolour and gum arabic on the surface giving it more substance and lustre. In parts his thumb or finger marks, especially just below the child, are clear, and in other parts where he requires a sharp highlight he has scratched the surface with his thumbnail or a blade, for instance in parts of the gondolas, boats and jetty.

Turner introduces us to a bustling group of young and old men, woman and a child, and with extraordinary dexterity has captured a moment when an incident has brought about loud exclamations, enough to gain the attention of most of the figures on the quay. By way of contrast, on the right, deliberately ignoring what happens behind him, is a prisoner in chains reclining on a block of stone. It is the activities of the large man wearing braces who is trying to lift or hold a stone or marble on a wheelbarrow, his expletives shocking the lady seated in front of him, that has gained everyone's attention, except that is, the child whose ball has fallen and may be rolling towards the edge of the jetty. Among the surprised workers are two carrying an important painting, and at the other end are figures lifting a heavy stone load, while others await their turn with cases and large bale.

The precise details are clear, but just as important is the overall impression Turner aimed to display. He might have had in mind, as he designed this watercolour, the interests of Walter Fawkes to whom he intended to sell it. As Finberg wrote of Fawkes's response, `To him [Fawkes] Turner's drawings would have come as a revelation of his own experiences of Venice. They would have stirred into life a host of slumbering memories...'. Fawkes was Turner's most important patron and they had become a close friend too. Like most English patrons, Fawkes would have associated Venice with idealised views by Canaletto and other Venetian artists, so, to show substantial pieces of masonry and important works of art being carried up the jetty away from the city, appears to illustrate an up to date view of a beautiful but disrupted city. As Byron wrote in 1820, `Few individuals can conceive, and none could describe the actual state into which the more than infernal tyranny of Austria has plunged this unhappy city'

Both the present work and the following lot, Rome from Monte Mario, were commissioned by Walter Fawkes, the two jewels in the crown of eight major works from Turner's first journey to Italy commissioned by his close friend and one of his most important patrons.

Further information on this work provided by James Miller, S.G.L., Cecilia Powell, David Laven and Peter Bower, is accessible online at sothebys.com and in published form via the department.