Joseph Mallord William Turner

Finberg later corrected his 1909 Inventory entry (‘Chiesa della Salute’): ‘2 sketches. One of S. Giorgio; o[the]r of S. Giorgio, Citella & Dogana. (from Hotel Europa)’.1 The Turner scholar C.F. Bell marked another copy, crossing out Finberg’s wording and adding: ‘Island of San Giorgio’.2

Of the two horizontal views, the lower shows the church of San Giorgio Maggiore on its island, across the Bacino to the south-east. The alignments of various features indicate that the viewpoint is outside the Hotel Europa (Palazzo Giustinian) on the Grand Canal, where Turner was staying (see the subsection of views from inside and around it). Working rapidly with this familiar subject, Turner has somewhat exaggerated the scale of the dome.

Above, is a panoramic view from the same point, with San Giorgio lightly indicated at the left, and the dome of the Zitelle towards the right, south-south-east on the Isola della Giudecca, with the porch of the Dogana in the foreground on the right. Silhouetted shipping is moored at the centre. Albeit slight, the sketch is comparable with the general arrangement of Turner’s painting of The Dogano, San Giorgio, Citella, from the Steps of the Europa, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1842 (Tate N00372).3 Compare the two-part sketch of much the same view on folio 19 verso (D31828).