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 Harbour, from Sea. Genoa 1828

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Harbour, from Sea. Genoa’ 1828
Folio 13 Recto:
The Port of Genoa, with La Lanterna Lighthouse 1828
D21436
Turner Bequest CCXXXIII 13
Pencil on white lined wove paper, 96 x 144 mm
Inscribed in red ink 13’ (smudged) bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCXXXIII – 13’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
La Lanterna, Genoa’s sixteenth-century lighthouse, forms the central focal point of this page.1 A prominent landmark marking the western side of the port entrance, it was sketched by Turner from multiple angles in the present sketchbook: see also folios 12 recto, 14 recto, 15 verso and 16 verso (D21434, D21438, D21441, D21443). Coastal ramparts and hilltop buildings are visible to the right, and the sketch terminates to the left with a smaller tower that has since been demolished. Turner’s vantage point was likely from the other side of the old port, looking west.
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).
1
‘Lanterna’, Visit Genoa, accessed 2 May 2024, https://www.visitgenoa.it/en/node/22048; ‘La Lanterna’, Lanterna di Genova, accessed 2 May 2024, https://www.lanternadigenova.com/.
Technical notes:
The page is divided by a conspicuous horizontal crease, possibly a manufacturing fault.

Hannah Kaspar
November 2024

How to cite

Hannah Kaspar, ‘The Port of Genoa, with La Lanterna Lighthouse 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-port-of-genoa-with-la-lanterna-lighthouse-r1209976, accessed 15 April 2025.