Joseph Mallord William Turner

Following his expedition to the Simplon Pass, Turner returned to Milan in Italy, via Domodossola, Vogogna and the western shores of Lake Maggiore. Federico Crimi has identified the subject of the four sketches on this page as Isola Bella, one of the Borromean Islands within the western arm of the lake.1 The angles from which the artist has depicted the island, famous for its palazzo and elaborate terraced gardens, indicates that he was sketching from the Simplon road between Baveno and Stresa on the south-west side of the lake. The uppermost and bottom two vistas, for example, depict the view from the south with the Isola Pescatori (also known as the Isola Superiore) visible in the distance on the left. The middle study represents the view from the south-west.

Further views of Isola Bella can be found on folios 29 verso, 31 verso (D16945, D16948). For more detailed studies see also the Turin, Como, Lugarno, Maggiore sketchbook (Tate D14293; Turner Bequest CLXXIV 76a).