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

Three distinct studies appear on this page, all of which are inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation. At the top is a distant view of ‘Genoa’, a location confirmed by Turner’s scrawled inscription towards the top right. His viewpoint was from the east, looking beyond the city’s old port towards its sixteenth-century lighthouse, La Lanterna. The shaky pencil lines indicate that Turner was sketching while in motion, either from a moving carriage or a vessel out to sea.

Similarly rough in appearance, the study beneath is labelled ‘S^t Julien’, a reference to the monastic complex of San Giuliano in the eastern Albaro district of Genoa. Founded by Franciscans, the abbey is thought to date back to the thirteenth century, and was taken over by Benedictine monks in the early fourteenth century.1 As Napoleonic rule was established, the monastery was closed and converted into a private home, as it would have remained at the time of Turner’s visit to Genoa in 1828. His viewpoint appears to be from the east, with the city centre in the distance.

The lower sketch lacks an inscription, although its subject is likely the Ligurian coastline to the east of Genoa. The two figures promenading along a path are possibly the same couple depicted on the verso (D21449), the subject of which is also ‘S^t Julien’.

For a general commentary on Turner’s first visit to Genoa in 1828, together with a list of relevant works in the sketchbook, see under folio 6 verso (D21423).