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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner An ?Italian Waterfront, with Distant Mountains c.1828-43

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
An ?Italian Waterfront, with Distant Mountains c.1828–43
D33749
Turner Bequest CCCXLI 70
Pencil and white chalk on grey wove paper, 141 x 193 mm
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom right
Inscribed in red ink ‘70’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCCXLI – 70’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This waterfront subject, either on the coast or perhaps a lake with a large boat under construction below Baroque towers and a dome, is currently unidentified, but may be Italian; see the Introduction to this section for further brief discussion and dating.
There is a slight additional sketch at the top left, possibly continuing the main view a little to the left. The same scene is shown with the buildings in slightly less detail in Tate D33724 (Turner Bequest CCCXLI 45).
Verso:
Blank; inscribed by John Ruskin in pencil ‘53 | O’ bottom right.

Matthew Imms
February 2016

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘An ?Italian Waterfront, with Distant Mountains c.1828–43 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, February 2016, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2016, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-an-italian-waterfront-with-distant-mountains-r1182984, accessed 29 March 2024.