Joseph Mallord William Turner, R.A.

Commissioned by Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro of Novar (1797–1864);

By family descent until sold (‘The Novar Collection formed by that distinguished amateur, the late Hugh A. J. Munro, Esq. The intimate friend and Executor of JMW Turner RA.’), London, Christie’s, 6 April 1878, lot 98, to Davis for 5,850 guineas (on behalf of the 5th Earl of Rosebery and his wife Hannah Rothschild);

Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery (1847–1929), Prime Minister of Great Britain (1894–1895);

Thence by family descent until sold (‘Property from the collection formed by the 5th Earl of Rosebery’), London, Sotheby’s, 3 December 2014, lot 44;

Where acquired by the present owners. 

London, Royal Academy, 1836, no. 144;

London, Royal Academy, Winter Exhibition, 1896, no. 8 (lent by the 5th Earl of Rosebery);

London, Whitechapel Art Gallery, J.M.W Turner, RA. 1775–1851: an exhibition of pictures from public and private collections in Great Britain, February–March 1953, no. 89;

London, Tate Gallery and Royal Academy of Arts, Turner, 16 November 1974 – 2 March 1975, no. 515;

Ferrara, Palazzo dei Diamanti, Turner e l’Italia, 16 November 2008 – 22 February 2009, no. 93; 

Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland, Turner & Italy, 27 March – 7 June 2009, no. 93;

Budapest, Museum of Fine Art, Turner and Italy, 15 July – 15 August 2009, no. 93;

On long term loan to the National Gallery of Scotland, 1978–2013 . 

J. Ruskin, Modern Painters, vol. I, London 1843;

‘The Collection of H. A. J. Munro, Esq., of Novar, No. 113, Park-Street, Grosvenor Square', in Art Union, vol. 9, London, July 1847, p. 253;

J. Ruskin, Praeterita, Orpington 1886–89, p. 399;

J. Burnet and P. Cunningham, Turner and his Works, London 1852, pp. 29 and 117, no. 188;

W. Thornbury, The Life of J.M.W. Turner, R.A., London 1862, vol. I, pp. 231–32;

W. Frost, A.R.A. (revised by H. Reeve), A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings, Water-Colour Drawings, Drawings and Prints in the Collection of the late Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro Esq of Novar, at the time of his Death deposited in his House No. 6 Hamilton Place London with some Additional Paintings at Novar, privately printed 1865, p. 95, no. 121;

W. Thornbury, The Life of J.M.W. Turner, R.A., second ed., 2 vols., London 1877, pp. 105 and 578;

C.F. Bell, A List of the Works contributed to Public Exhibitions by J.M.W. Turner, R.A., London 1901, p. 130, no. 201;

Sir W. Armstrong, Turner, London and New York 1902, pp. 120 and 228;

E.T. Cook and A. Wedderburn, The Works of John Ruskin, London 1903–12, vol. III, pp. xviii, 636 n.; xxxv, p. 217; i, p. xxxiii;

A.J. Finberg, The Life of J.M.W. Turner, R.A., second ed. revised by H.F. Finberg, Oxford 1961, pp. 359 and 400, no. 469;

J. Lindsay, J.M.W. Turner, His Life and Work: A Critical Biography, New York 1966, p. 182;

J. Gage, ‘Turner’s Academic Friendships: C.L. Eastlake', in The Burlington Magazine, vol. cx, 1968, p. 682;

G. Reynolds, Turner, London 1969, pp. 150 and 168;

M. Butlin and E. Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, New Haven and London 1977, text vol., p. 217, no. 366, plates vol., reproduced in colour pl. 344;

A. Wilton, The Life and Work of JMW Turner, London 1979, p. 282, no. P366;

M. Kitson, ‘Turner and Claude’, in Turner Studies, vol. II, no. 2, Winter 1983, pp. 10 and 14;

E. Joll, M. Butlin and G. Verchi, L’opera completa di Turner 1820–1851, Milan 1982, p. 198, no 402, reproduced; 

M. Butlin and E. Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised edition, New Haven and London 1984, text vol., p. 217, no. 366, plates vol., reproduced in colour pl. 370;

A. Wilton, Turner in his Time, London 1987, pp. 187 and 206;

C. Powell, Turner in the South. Rome, Naples, Florence, New Haven and London 1987, pp. 7, 37, 106, 160, 164 and 165, reproduced fig. 159;

J. Holloway, ‘H A J Munro of Novar’, in Review of Scottish Culture, no. 7, Edinburgh 1991, pp. 10–11, reproduced fig. 1;

J. Hamilton, Turner. A Life, London 1997, p. 271;

I. Warrell, et al., J. M. W. Turner, exh. cat., London 2008, p. 152;

J. Hamilton, et al., Turner & Italy, exh. cat., Edinburgh 2009, pp. 87, 89 and 129–34, reproduced in colour, pl. 93, and in detail pls 143–48, and p. 78;

I. Warrell, Turner's Sketchbooks, London 2014, p. 146;

H. Kaspar, ‘Second Italian Tour 1828–9’, January 2025, revised by Matthew Imms, October 2025, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, February 2025, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/second-italian-tour-r1210657, accessed 04 September 2026.