In the Footsteps of Giants: Painting with Turner

In the Footsteps of Giants: Painting with Turner

One habit that could be potentially very annoying to other people if you happened to be in the car, is that if we get into the car to go painting, we drive and drive and drive, then circle back, get out, get back in and drive again. All in search of the “right” spot to paint.

 

 

Well this day I hit the jackpot and completely unknowingly.

We veered off to drive up this small country road which looked across the valley to Orvieto. I was instantly taken with the view capturing Orvieto in the background against the dark purple-blue of the mountains contrasted with these lovely stone houses on the hill. This place gave me the feel of the air and of a silent winter morning in a farming village.To tell the truth it was anything but silent.

I happened to set my easel up next to a very active chicken coop just behind the fence and the hens were doing a fine job of laying their eggs this particular morning.When the farmer came to tend to the chickens he stopped watching silently and then said, “You know that Turner painted in this very spot?” “Really?”

I couldn’t imagine what he meant. And did this farmer really know the likes of J.M.W. Turner who only visited Italy twice in his lifetime, stopping briefly in this area to make a few pencil sketches in his notebook? “Yes, right here. He painted here with the road and Orvieto up on the hill. Not these houses, but this view.”

 View of Orvieto by J.M.W. Turner 1828, 1830

With a little research I was able to find this painting and was pleasantly surprised. This is not the exact view, but something like it and more or less a composite from sketches done while traveling in the area with the final painting being executed in Rome.

This is one of the many marvels of painting the Italian landscape: potentially walking and painting in the footsteps of those who came before us. Documenting a time and a place, the light so warm and rich with the cool blue mountains in the back, that is just the feel of Italy, especially in 19th century painting.

You can learn more about J.M.W.’s travels through Italy by leafing through high resolution scans of his sketchbooks which have been so generously donated to public domain by the Tate Britain. Learn more about this painting as well here on their website.

What a joy and honor to paint in this location. And wouldn’t you know that this morning I found the perfect spot?