Study for ‘Landscape: Composition of Tivoli’
- Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner
- Date: c.1817
- Medium: Graphite and watercolour on paper
- Dimensions: support: 667 x 1006 mm
- Museum: Tate Britain
- Collection record: Tate Britain website
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About this artwork
This is the "Study for ‘Landscape: Composition of Tivoli’" by Joseph Mallord William Turner. Created around 1817, this graphite and watercolour study captures the light and mood Turner would later make famous across the British landscape. The work is a preparatory sketch for a larger composition, a classic example of his colour studies of idealised Italianate landscapes. You can see how Turner experiments with subtle washes to suggest distant hills, the shimmering water of the Tiber, and the distant ruins that hint at the Italian scenery. The paper size—roughly 66 by 100 centimetres—lets us see the delicate strokes he uses to build atmosphere. The piece was accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest in 1856, a testament to its importance in his oeuvre. It remains an important example of his early experiments with atmosphere and foreshadows the masterful skies he would later paint.
See it in person
Study for ‘Landscape: Composition of Tivoli’ is in the collection of Tate Britain on Millbank, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
