Lake of Como, II (A Farewell), for Rogers’s ‘Italy’

This vignette, engraved by Robert Wallis, appears as the head-piece for the final chapter of Rogers’s Italy, entitled ‘A Farewell’.1 Rogers indicates in a note that this poem was written on 1 May 1822 in Susa, a Piedmontese city located just below the Great St Bernard Pass. The verses deliver a heartfelt adieu to Italy:

Turner himself seems to have remembered Rogers’s verses when, upon his departure from Rome in 1828, he began a manuscript poem beginning with the words, ‘Farewell a second time to the Land of all bliss’. Cecilia Powell however, has suggested that this may also refer to another poem, ‘Farewell to Italy’ in William Sotheby’s Italy and Other Poems of 1828.2

Although the vignette is now commonly known as The Farewell after the title of the section it illustrates, it was originally published in the portfolio and quarto editions as Lake of Como II.3 Even though the topographical location is clearly indicated there has nonetheless been some confusion over the subject. Finberg, following Ruskin, described it as Isola Bella, Lago Maggiore.4 While this identification is incorrect, it is not without reason. As Jan Piggott has noted, The Farewell bears a clear resemblance to Isola Bella. On the Lago Maggiore, circa 1817 (untraced),5 a watercolour that Turner produced for Hakewill’s Picturesque Tour of Italy based upon Hakewill’s own camera obscura drawing dated June 1817.6 The villa itself, as well as the mountainous background surrounding the lake, appears to be closely related to this earlier drawing.