By Kind Permission of a Private Collection
By Kind Permission of a Private Collection
Turner 's Modern Italy - the Pifferari, oil on canvas, R.A. 1838, Glasgow Museum and Art Gallery ( Wilton P374); engraved in 1842 by William Miller ( Rawlinson 736). Ruskin would have seen the painting at the Royal Academy in 1838, but it was bought by H.A.J. Munro, and in consequence the few references in his writings are to the engraving. A diary entry for 19 January 1843 records Ruskin's purchase of a copy of the 'splendid' engraving, and he used a detail from it to illustrate the 'Drawing of Tree-Stems' in Modern Painters III (Plate 2), with the note: 'I take this example from Miller, because, on the whole, he is the best engraver of Turner whom we have' ( Works, 5.157).
J.M.W. Turner 1775-1851
Modern Italy - the Pifferari 1838
Oil on canvas, 92.5x123cm
Exhibitions: RA 1838 (57); RA 1903 (23); Bradford Inaugural Exhibition 1904 (42); RA 1934 (676); RA 1951-2 (166); Whitechapel 1953 (90); Tate Gallery 1959 (356); Leningrad/Moscow 1975-6 (63); Munich 1979-80 (273, repr.)
Engraving:
Engraved by W. Miller, 1842
Copper engraving, 43.2x61cm
Further Comments: Miller executed a second engraving of the same subject that was published in the Turner Gallery, 1859.
Collection: Glasgow Art Gallery, Scotland