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

Turner departed from Milan for Turin in mid-January 1829, encountering en route the village of Boffalora sopra Ticino to the west of Milan, as indicated by his lower inscription ‘Buffarlo’. From his vantage point along the Naviglo Grande, a canal connecting the River Ticino to Milan, he sketched a row of boats in the foreground and quayside buildings in the distance.

Turner also visited Boffalora sopra Ticino in 1819 during his first major Italian tour; for a list of relevant studies, see Nicola Moorby’s entry for the Turin, Como, Lugarno, Maggiore sketchbook in the present catalogue (Tate D14228; Turner Bequest CLXXIV 43). As Federico Crimi noted, the village was a convenient stop-off point between Milan and Turin, mentioned in contemporary travel literature of the period; Turner may have taken advantage of its taverns with an overnight stay in 1819, as suggested by the high number of sketches he produced at this time.1