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 on Lake of Lugano; Including a Distant View of Albogasio and Three Sketches of San Mamete 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Four Sketches on Lake of Lugano; Including a Distant View of Albogasio and Three Sketches of San Mamete’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 71 Verso:
Four Sketches on Lake of Lugano; Including a Distant View of Albogasio and Three Sketches of San Mamete 1819
D14281
Turner Bequest CLXXIV 70 a
Pencil on white wove paper, 186 x 111 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘Abagasio Lugarno’ bottom right of top sketch, ‘[?Sanomata]’ within second sketch from top, and ‘olives’ far left-hand side of bottom sketch
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner toured Lake Lugano by boat, travelling between Porlezza in the east and Lugano in the west,1 and sketches related to this expedition can be found on folios 71–73 verso (D14280–D14285; Turner Bequest CLXXIV 70–72a). This sheet contains four distinct views as seen from the waters of the lake, which Turner has labelled with relevant (although misspelled) place names. The uppermost study depicts a distant view of the village of Albogasio on the northern shore of the lake. Turner’s viewpoint is from the adjacent village of San Mamete to the east, looking in the direction of the distinctive peak of Monte San Salvatore in the far distance. The remaining three sketches all depict variant views of San Mamete itself, easily recognisable from the tall, pointed campanile of the church of Santi Mamete e Agapito.

Nicola Moorby
January 2013

1
See Crimi 2007, pp.30–1.

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Four Sketches on Lake of Lugano; Including a Distant View of Albogasio and Three Sketches of San Mamete 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-on-lake-of-lugano-including-a-distant-view-of-r1142802, accessed 25 April 2024.