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

Turner circled Lake Albano and made sketches from several different points. This drawing shows the view from the eastern shore of the lake looking across towards the dome of the Church of San Tommaso di Villanova, Castel Gandolfo. He has also noted a small group of figures around an area of the road which he has labelled as a ‘Fountain’. Amidst the lush greenery surrounding the lake, and the deep blue of the water itself, the ‘Red’ of a woman’s dress would have made a pleasing complementary splash of colour to Turner’s artistic eye. In his later watercolour, Lake Albano circa 1828 (private collection), the red bodice of the peasant woman, or contadina, in the foreground serves the same aesthetic purpose.1 The scene is continued briefly on the opposite sheet of the double-page spread, see folio 8 (D15309).

For a full discussion of Turner’s depictions of Lake Albano see folio 3 verso (D15301) and the general introduction to the sketchbook.