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

Turner made several sketches in and around the coastal harbour town of Villefranche-sur-Mer. This example, with the page turned horizontally, records the view from the road above the town to the north, looking south across the bay.1 Beyond Villefranche-sur-Mer itself, recognisable from the profile of the Citadelle d’Elme and the Darse (the Old Harbour), the vista stretches as far as Cap Ferrat and its lighthouse on the left, and the hills of Mont Boron and Mont Alban on the right. The artist has marked the position of the sixteenth-century fortress on Mont Alban with a cross; it is also pictured in a thumbnail sketch at the top right. A variant view from further west on the same road can be found on folio 14 recto (D21159).

For further sketches of Villefranche-sur-Mer see folios 10 verso–13 verso (D21152–D21158).