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

With the sketchbook turned horizontally, Turner made this swift study of San Lorenzo della Costa, a location identified by his inscription ‘S^t Lorenzo’ beneath. He encountered this small Ligurian village while crossing the mountainous terrain between Recco and Camogli to the west and San Margherita and Rapallo to the east. The building to the right is presumably the Romanesque Church of San Lorenzo, and towers are also visible on a summit to the left. The geographer and Turner researcher Roland Courtot has identified the distant coastline as the bay of Rapallo, seen from the San Lorenzo pass.1