J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

This sketch depicts a sprawling hillside complex, possibly monastic buildings, with a loggia extending along one side. This is perhaps a more detailed and comprehensive view of the building depicted on the recto (D21424). Turner’s rendering of the architectural features is highly economic, with rows of pedimented windows and arches rapidly marked. Further buildings and towers are perched on the hilly summits beyond. As noted in Finberg’s 1909 Inventory of the Bequest, Turner’s top-left inscription reads ‘S^t Francis’, indicating a Franciscan monastery, although it is unclear whether this annotation refers to the main complex or a smaller hilltop building.1