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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Second Italian Tour 1828-9 > Genoa and Florence Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Buildings 1828

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Buildings’ 1828
Folio 4 Recto:
The ?Church of Santa Maria Assunta, Genoa 1828
D21418
Turner Bequest CCXXXIII 4
Pencil on white lined wove paper, 96 x 144 mm
Inscribed in red ink ‘4’ (smudged), top right, ascending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCXXXIII – 4’ top right, ascending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The subject of this study appears to be the Santa Maria Assunta, a Renaissance church perched on a hilltop in the Carignano district of Genoa. Designed by the architect Galeazzo Alessi, it was constructed from the mid-sixteenth century.1 Turner’s slight sketch encompasses only the two belltowers and omits other features of the building, notably its dome. His viewpoint appears to be from the Piazza Carignano, looking north-east towards the front façade of the church, framed here from an oblique angle. To the left are similarly cursory outlines of buildings and fortifications.
A prominent Genoese landmark sketched repeatedly by Turner in the present sketchbook, the Santa Maria Assunta also appears on folios 6 verso, 9 verso, 10 recto, 11 verso and 16 recto (D21423, D21429–D21430, D21433, D21442). 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).

Hannah Kaspar
November 2024

1
‘Carignano church’, Guida di Genova, accessed 28 March 2024, https://www.guidadigenova.it/en/visit-genoa/carignano-church/#:~:text=In%201718%20the%20%E2%80%9CCarignano%20bridge,new%20road%20to%20the%20port.

How to cite

Hannah Kaspar, ‘The ?Church of Santa Maria Assunta, Genoa 1828’, catalogue entry, November 2024, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, February 2025, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/the-church-of-santa-maria-assunta-genoa-r1209958, accessed 15 April 2025.