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 Town 1828

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Town’ 1828
Folio 6 Recto:
Views of ?Genoa 1828
D21422
Turner Bequest CCXXXIII 6
Pencil on white lined wove paper, 96 x 144 mm
Inscribed in red ink ‘6’ (smudged), bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCXXXIII – 6’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Rough in execution, these two views are difficult to identify with precision. Turner possibly executed them from a boat in the port of Genoa, a location consistent with the overall itinerary embodied by this sketchbook (see the Introduction), which begins in this coastal city and ends near Livorno and Florence. The spire to the right of the upper view is possibly the Church of San Giovanni, part of a larger complex of Romanesque buildings in the city’s central Prè district, near the old port.
For a general commentary on Turner’s first visit to Genoa in 1828, together with a list of relevant works in the sketchbook, see the verso (D21423).

Hannah Kaspar
November 2024

How to cite

Hannah Kaspar, ‘Views of ?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/views-of-genoa-r1209962, accessed 15 April 2025.