Oil paint on canvas
Italy
Tate Collection
Works with images
Works on loan
Joseph Mallord William Turner
Turner Bequest
Oil paintings
Collection
Turner owned by Tate
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/joseph-mallord-william-turner-558" aria-label="More by Joseph Mallord William Turner" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Joseph Mallord William Turner</a>
Venetian Scene
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
abstraction
adults
architecture
cities, towns, villages (non-UK)
countries and continents
figure
from recognisable sources
group
groups
Italy
landscape
people
places
townscape
townscapes / man-made features
Venice - non-specific
<p>This is an unfinished work in the  square format which Turner used  in the 1840s, mainly for pairs of pictures on contrasting themes. The subject, involving a procession of figures, is not  yet clear, and it is impossible to be certain that the painting shows Venice. The sky  is worked with a palette knife and with curved sweeps of the brush, building up the vertical swirls that are pronounced in some of Turner's late exhibited pictures.</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
30 July 2001 – 30 June 2002
2002-06-30
30 July 2001 – 30 June 2002
2002-06-30
2001-07-30
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2001-07-30
Painting Venice
Collection based display
16 May 2005
16 May 2005 – 28 February 2027
2027-02-28
2005-05-16
Government Art Collection (London, UK)
2005-05-16
Long loan to Government Art Collection
Loan-out
30 August 2005 – 9 May 2014
2014-05-09
30 August 2005 – 9 May 2014
2014-05-09
2005-08-30
Government Art Collection (London, UK)
2005-08-30
GAC loan to 10 Downing Street
Loan-out
6 July 2024 – 15 January 2028
2028-01-15
6 July 2024 – 1 September 2024
2024-09-01
2024-07-06
Grimaldi Forum (Monaco, Monaco)
30 September 2024 – 7 May 2025
2025-05-07
2024-09-30
Museum of Art Pudong (Shanghai, China)
21 June 2025 – 5 October 2025
2025-10-05
2025-06-21
Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art (Brisbane, Australia)
1 June 2026 – 1 October 2026
2026-10-01
2026-06-01
External
15 November 2026 – 15 March 2027
2027-03-15
2026-11-15
External
1 May 2027 – 1 September 2027
2027-09-01
2027-05-01
External
15 October 2027 – 15 January 2028
2028-01-15
2027-10-15
External
2024-07-06
Turner's Sublime Legacy
Tate partnerships & programmes
Venetian Scene
support: 840 × 840 × 25 mm
frame: 1035 × 1034 × 115 mm
Accepted by the nation as part of the <a href="/search?gid=999999781" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Turner Bequest</a> 1856
<p>
This is an unfinished work in the <br/>
square format which Turner used <br/>
in the 1840s, mainly for pairs of pictures on contrasting themes. The subject, involving a procession of figures, is not <br/>
yet clear, and it is impossible to be certain that the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> shows Venice. The sky <br/>
is worked with a palette knife and with curved sweeps of the brush, building up the vertical swirls that are pronounced in some of Turner's late exhibited pictures.</p>
Display caption
2004-09-08T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>504. </b>[<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-venetian-scene-n05482" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05482</span></a>]<b> Venetian Scene</b> <i>c.</i> 1840–5? </p>
<p>THE TATE GALLERY, LONDON (5482)</p>
<p>Canvas, 31 1/4 × 31 (79·5 × 79)</p>
<p><b>Coll.</b> Turner Bequest 1856 (158, one of 2 each 2'7 1/4" × 2'7" with No. 532 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-a-river-seen-from-a-hill-n05475" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05475</span></a>]; identified 1946, ?by chalk number on back); transferred to the Tate Gallery 1947.</p>
<p><b>Exh.</b> Paris 1983–4 (69, repr.).</p>
<p><b>Lit.</b> Davies 1946, pp. 158, 188; Wallace 1979, p. 109, pl. 2; Butlin 1981, p. 45.</p>
<p>An unfinished Venetian scene with the square format and vortex-like <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a> of a number of Turner's works of the 1840s (e.g. Nos. 404–5 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-shade-and-darkness-the-evening-of-the-deluge-n00531" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N00531</span></a>-<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-light-and-colour-goethes-theory-the-morning-after-the-deluge-moses-writing-the-book-n00532" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N00532</span></a>]), similar in its impression of a procession of boats to No. 505 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-the-arrival-of-louis-philippe-at-the-royal-clarence-yard-gosport-8-october-1844-n02068" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N02068</span></a>]. For what was possibly a projected companion see No. 532 [<span>N05475</span>]. Gage (exh. cat., Paris 1983–4) queries the possibility that the two pictures could be companions on the grounds that they are very similar in colour, but in view of the fact that, unlike the exhibited works in this sort of format, Turner seems to have added a lot of colour, as well as detail, at the last minute, as for instance in the case of the vital blues in <i>Undine giving the Ring to Massaniello</i> (No. 424, <i>q.v.</i>[<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-undine-giving-the-ring-to-massaniello-fisherman-of-naples-n00549" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N00549</span></a>]), this is not a conclusive argument. He also queries the identification with Venice, while agreeing that the composition is similar in character to some of the festive Venetian scenes such as Nos. 505–8 [<span>N02068</span>, <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-venetian-festival-n04659" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N04659</span></a>-<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-riva-degli-schiavone-venice-water-fete-n04661" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N04661</span></a>].</p>
<p>There are paint losses, now restored, all down the right-hand edge, though mainly only in a narrow strip. The form of the Thomas Brown stamp on the back of the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/canvas" title="Glossary definition for 'Canvas'"><span>canvas</span></a> supports a date in the 1840s (see Butlin, <i>loc. cit.</i>).</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, <i>The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner</i>, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-07T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
abstraction adults architecture cities, towns, villages (non-UK) countries and continents figure from recognisable sources group groups Italy landscape people places townscape townscapes / man-made features Venice - non-specific