Joseph Mallord William Turner

This page contains advice to Turner on travelling in Italy in preparation for the artist’s first tour of the country in 1819. The author of the inscription is James Hakewill (1778–1843), with whom Turner collaborated on the engraved print project, Picturesque Tour of Italy, published 1820 (see the introduction to the sketchbook). The text, which relates to places of interest in Verona, was first transcribed by Finberg,1 and reads ‘Verona – | Amphitheater | Gates – | View from Count Guisti’s | Tomb of Romeo & Juliet.’ The suggestions are based upon Hakewill’s own Italian travels in 1816–17 and views of the city, including the amphitheatre and the vista from the gardens of Count Guisti, can be found amidst his own drawings from the time (British School at Rome Library).2 Turner also visited Verona although on the outward journey to Rome, see the Milan to Venice sketchbook (Tate D14368; Turner Bequest CLXXV 28a), rather than the return route recommended by Hakewill. The notes continue on folio 23 (D13901).

Turner has also used the sheet to make a number of swift on-the-spot pencil sketches. These include some thumbnail studies of figures, a plant, and an unidentified landscape scene. Part of the line of the latter continues on the opposite sheet of the double-page spread, see folio 21 verso (D13898).