Turner's Ovid in Exile: A Romantic Farewell to Rome

J. M. W. Turner's painting "Ancient Italy—Ovid Banished From Rome" (exhibited 1838) depicts the poet Ovid's departure into exile, blending historical and mythological elements. Turner, who traveled to Italy in 1819 and 1828, created this imagined 1st-century Roman scene featuring a mix of temples, triumphal arches, and statuary. The painting centers on a massive sky and water, with a sunset that captures the mood of Ovid's emotional departure, despite Ovid describing night-time in his poem "Tristia 1.3." A tomb in the lower left bears Ovid's full name, Ovid Publius Naso, indicating the scene is not literal. Turner's use of yellow, initially criticized, became a signature. The cause of Ovid's banishment by Emperor Augustus remains mysterious, hinted at by "carmen et error" (a song and a mistake). Turner, associated with Romanticism (1780–1830), emphasizes emotion through figures displaying anguish, anger, and sadness. The artist drew inspiration from the skies and sea of Margate, Kent, where he lived and where the Turner Contemporary is now located, also inspiring Tracey Emin. The painting is in a private collection.