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

As identified by the geographer and Turner researcher Roland Courtot, this study depicts the twelfth-century cathedral in central Lodi, the Basilica Cathedral of Vergine Assunta.1 Turner travelled via Lodi in the second week of January 1829, as he made his way north-west towards Milan. The location is confirmed by the artist’s inscription in the top-right corner. Swiftly outlined is the cathedral’s Romanesque façade with a central rose window, a Gothic arched entrance, and the belltower with a clock to the right, a later addition from the mid sixteenth century.

Turner’s vantage point was from the present-day Piazza della Vittoria, formerly known as the Piazza Maggiore, looking north-east towards the cathedral. Either side of the cathedral are further arcaded buildings around the square. A variant study of the same subject appears on folio 4 recto (D21674).