This petite (9.46 x 12.50 cm) oil on canvas by J.M.W. Turner contains big things: big landscapes, big stories and big skies. It is an imagined scene from 1st century Rome: the departure of Ovid into his famous exile.
All Roads Lead to Rome…
Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851), successful while alive, travelled a lot. He visited Italy in 1819 and 1928, and Rome was the subject of many of his paintings.
As well as contemporary scenes and veritable landscapes/seascapes, Turner also created historical, literary and mythological paintings. In Ancient Italy — Ovid Banished From Rome a mix-match of temples, triumphal arches, and statuary from different periods create this rendition of 1st century Rome. The topic too, the story of Ovid’s banishment, is a blend of equal parts legend and historical fact.
Turner’s of depiction Ovid’s departure is appropriately ambiguous. Which figure is Ovid? Is he even in the painting? With Ovid’s oeuvre of poetry that speaks through unreliable but knowable narrators, and the first person poetry from exile, “Who is Ovid,” is a very apt question.
There is also mystery around the cause of Ovid’s banishment by the Roman Emperor Augustus. The only clue is a mere three words: “carmen et error” – a song and a mistake. Which poem was so controversial that it deigned exile? What did Ovid do that was so unforgivable?
Romanticism
Turner like Ovid, who wrote reams of poetry on the topic of love, can be described as a romantic. The art term “Romanticism” is the label for the period in western art between 1780 to 1830. Emotions were on full display, in contrast to the traditional ideas of classical restraint. In British art, Turner is known for embracing Romanticism through his depictions of nature.
Ancient Italy — Ovid Banished From Rome certainly depicts emotion, look at the figures whose various poses display a range of feelings under categories of anguish, anger, and sadness.
“…the skies over Thanet are the loveliest in all Europe”
As in many of Turner’s paintings Ancient Italy — Ovid Banished From Rome is centred on a massive sky and the water below (The river Tiber or the sea – you decide).
Those of you not skim-reading will realise that Thanet is most definitely not in Rome. Rather, it is in Kent. Turner was in love with the light in this area of the world.
“Where therefore, and in this very town of Margate, he lived, when he chose to be quit of London, and yet not to travel”
John Ruskin, influential writer and art critic.
In particular, the sea and skies of Margate (where he went to school and where the new Turner Contemporary is located) were a great inspiration for him. As they are for living artist Tracey Emin who also came from the Kentish town.
While Turner and Emin escape the smog of London to the fresh air of Margate, Ovid longed for his beloved city from his exile on the coast of the Black Sea.
This was originally written for Daily Art Magazine and published on August 26, 2019.