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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > First Italian Tour 1819-20 > Turin, Como, Lugarno, Maggiore ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Boffalora sopra Ticino, with the Bridge across the Naviglio Grande 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Boffalora sopra Ticino, with the Bridge across the Naviglio Grande’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 44 Recto:
Boffalora sopra Ticino, with the Bridge across the Naviglio Grande 1819
D14228
Turner Bequest CLXXIV 43
Pencil on white wove paper, 111 x 186 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘Buffalora’ bottom left
Inscribed by John Ruskin in blue ink ‘43’ top right and ‘284’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CLXXIV 43’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
As Turner’s inscription in the bottom left-hand corner of the page indicates, this sketch depicts a view of Boffalora sopra Ticino, a village approximately fifteen miles west of Milan which represented the official border between the regions of Piedmont and Lombardy.1 Turner crossed the border en route to Milan from Turin, and the significant number of drawings of Boffalora indicate that he probably stayed in the village overnight, giving him time to explore and sketch the place in some detail. His viewpoint for this study is the eastern bank of the Naviglio Grande (an artificial waterway which runs directly through the village) and the sketch looks south-east towards a seventeenth-century bridge with two arches and a column topped by a cross. Federico Crimi has identified the building on the left as the Osteria della Croce Bianca, or ‘Post’ hotel, which was notable as one of the best hotels between Turin and Venice.2 Turner would almost certainly have sought accommodation here. It was also the departure point for connections to Milan, either by diligence (large public carriage), or by the swifter barchettti (canal boat) which took just five hours.3
Further sketches of Boffalora can be found on folios 45–46 (D14229–D14231; Turner Bequest CLXXIV 44–45).
1
For information about the border crossing at Boffalora see Crimi 2007, p.25.
2
See ibid., pp.25–6.
3
Ibid, p.27 note 27.
Verso:
Blank

Nicola Moorby
January 2013

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Boffalora sopra Ticino, with the Bridge across the Naviglio Grande 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, January 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, August 2013, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-boffalora-sopra-ticino-with-the-bridge-across-the-naviglio-r1142749, accessed 20 September 2024.