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

Cecilia Powell has identified the subject of this sketch as Genoa.1 It is one of over a dozen pages in the present sketchbook depicting this major Ligurian port city: see folios 4 recto, 6 recto, 9 verso, 10 recto, 11 verso, 12 recto, 13 recto, 14 recto, 15 verso, 16 recto and verso, and 19 recto and verso (D21418, D21422, D21429–D21430, D21433–D21434, D21436, D21438, D21441–D21443, D21448–D21449). Turner visited Genoa for the first time in 1828 (see also the Marseilles to Genoa sketchbook in the present catalogue: Tate; Turner Bequest CCXXXI), and later revisited it in 1838 (see the Coast of Genoa sketchbook: Tate; Turner Bequest CCXXXII). The two landmarks that caught his eye were the city’s historic lighthouse, known as La Lanterna, and the hilltop Church of Santa Maria Assunta. Naturally, Turner gravitated towards Genoa’s thriving harbour, which he appears to have toured by boat, pursuing new sketching opportunities. Because several studies depict sailing vessels without contextualising scenery, they are only provisionally identified as the port of Genoa.

Turner’s viewpoint for the present sketch was likely from Genoa’s old port, and possibly from out to sea. With the sketchbook turned horizontally, he used the upper section to trace the city’s skyline, featuring to the far right the Church of Santa Maria Assunta in the Carignano district, with its distinctive dome flanked by belltowers. Variant views of the church appear on folios 4 recto, 9 verso, 10 recto, 11 verso and 16 recto (D21418, D21429–D21430, D21433, D21442). One of the towers to the left is possibly the Romanesque Church of San Donato, while the imposing central building is the Cathedral of San Lorenzo. The Embriaci tower and the Church of Santa María del Castillo possibly lie further to the left. The view terminates to the far left with a church spire, possibly from the Santa Maria delle Vigne.

Today, Turner’s unobstructed view of the city’s Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance architecture is partially concealed by the numerous high-rise buildings erected in the intervening period. Turner also appears to have used a degree of artistic license for this composition, creating a capriccio effect by compressing the towers and spires into a more compact view.

Towards the bottom of the page is a simplified and more distant version of the same vista, with the buildings faintly outlined and details of the port included in the foreground. The geometrical forms to the right may depict coastal ramparts.