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

The two studies on this page are inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation. The location of the upper sketch is identified by Turner’s scrawled inscription ‘Nervi’ in the top-right corner. This small fishing village to the east of Genoa also appears on folio 18 verso (D21447). The central square tower bears some resemblance to the sixteenth-century Torre Gropallo, a watchtower perched on a rocky promontory near the village. The geographer and Turner researcher Roland Courtot has identified the landmass to the right as Cape Chiappa on the western part of the Portofino peninsula.1 Turner’s viewpoint appears to be facing south-east.

Beneath is another coastal study, presumably near Nervi, which is flecked with pencil markings, presumably to suggest foliage. The shaky appearance of both studies indicates that Turner was sketching from a vessel out to sea.