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 Four Sketches of Lake Piano, from the Road Between Menaggio and Porlezza 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Four Sketches of Lake Piano, from the Road Between Menaggio and Porlezza’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 70 Recto:
Four Sketches of Lake Piano, from the Road Between Menaggio and Porlezza 1819
D14278
Turner Bequest CLXXIV 69
Pencil on white wove paper, 186 x 111 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘[?L gl...]’ within top sketch, ‘arch’ and ‘Lac Piano’ bottom left of top sketch, ‘calm lake [?Ripple] G’ bottom centre of second sketch from top, ‘[?Olives]’ far left-hand side of third sketch from top, and ‘Girl with [?Blue]’ bottom right of bottom sketch
Inscribed by John Ruskin in blue ink ‘69’ top left, ascending left-hand edge and ‘284’ top right, ascending right-hand edge
Stamped in black ‘CLXXIV 69’ top right, ascending right-hand edge
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner crossed from Lake Como to Lake Lugano via the road between Menaggio and Porlezza, a route served by diligence which took him through the Val Menaggio (also sometimes known as the valley of Porlezza) and past the Lago di Piano (Lake Piano). This journey was part of an expedition traditionally known as the ‘Giro dei tre Lagio’ (Tour of the Three Lakes).1 Turner would have been familiar with the route through his acquaintance with James Hakewill,2 and he also made relevant preparatory notes from Eustace’s A Classical Tour Through Italy, within the Italian Guide Book sketchbook (see Tate D13961; Turner Bequest CLXXII 16).
This page contains four distinct sketches, all of which were drawn from the road between Menaggio and Porlezza. They all appear to depict variant views of Lake Piano and the vista looking west towards distant Lake Lugano. Further related studies can be found on folio 70 verso (D14279; Turner Bequest CLXXIV 69a).

Nicola Moorby
January 2013

1
Federico Crimi, unpublished notes. See also Federico Crimi, ‘J.M.W. Turner e il Verbano: Repertorio’, in Verbanus, no.30, 2009, pp.37–8.
2
See ‘View of the Lago Piano and Lago di Lugano from the Road between Menaggio and Porlezza’, 1816 (British School at Rome). See Tony Cubberley and Luke Herrmann, Twilight of the Grand Tour: A Catalogue of the drawings by James Hakewill in the British School at Rome Library, Rome 1992, no.2.14, p.130, reproduced.

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Four Sketches of Lake Piano, from the Road Between Menaggio and Porlezza 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-four-sketches-of-lake-piano-from-the-road-between-menaggio-r1142799, accessed 18 April 2024.