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

This sketch depicts the Venezia Nuova district of Livorno, which lies to the north-east of the city. The area was developed under the Medicis as a network of canals and bridges to facilitate the transportation of goods to and from the port. Its density of waterways, canals and bridges – seven in total – created new sketching opportunities, while its architectural resemblance to its namesake no doubt heightened its appeal. Turner had first visited Venice a decade earlier in 1819, developing a well-known affinity for the city.

Turner’s west-facing viewpoint for this study was from near the present-day Ponte della Venezia, constructed after the Second World War to replace the original three-arched stone bridge, the Ponte Grande. In view is the seventeenth-century Ponte Santa Trinità, since demolished, which connects the port to the city.1 Beyond, outlined in silhouette, is the Fortezza Vecchia with its keep, the Mastio di Matilde. To the right are moored boats lining the canal. Sectioned off in the bottom-left corner is a detail of a bridge, possibly the Ponte Grande. An earlier engraving of 1783 by Bartolomeo Nerici offers a broadly similar vista.2

Further views of Venezia Nuova appear on folios 2 recto and 70 recto (D21414, D21545). Alternative studies of the Fortezza Vecchia can be seen on folios 1 verso, 68 verso, 69 recto and verso, 70 recto, 72 recto, 81 verso, 82 recto and 87 recto (D21413, D21542–D21545, D21548, D21566–D21567, D21574). For a general commentary on Turner’s visit to Livorno, together with a list of relevant works in the sketchbook, see under folio 68 verso (D21542).

This view of Livorno is out of sequence with the overall itinerary embodied by the sketchbook (see the Introduction), which begins near Genoa and ends near Livorno and Florence.