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

Turner appears to have made at least two trips on Lake Como during his 1819 tour of Italy. The first of these, as documented by his sketchbook drawings, appears to have been a circular expedition which left the city of Como and followed the western perimeter of the lake by boat as far as Laglio before returning by road along the eastern shore of the western branch.1 This page contains a small view of Lake Como on the far left-hand side of the sheet, parallel with the edge of the sketchbook. As Turner’s inscription beneath the sketch indicates, the view was taken from the water ‘opposite’ the town of Laglio, although whether this shows the town itself or the opposite shore is not clear.

The right-hand side of the page also contains a small part of the composition which has spilled over from the opposite sheet of the double-page spread, see folio 52 (D14242; Turner Bequest CLXXIV 51). For further sketches of Lake Como see folio 48 (D14234; Turner Bequest CLXXIV 47).