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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1836-47 Modern painter > South-Eastern France and Genoa 1838 > Coast of Genoa Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A View of a Bay on the Ligurian Coast, with Mountains in the Distance 1838

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A View of a Bay on the Ligurian Coast, with Mountains in the Distance’ 1838
Folio 11 Recto:
A View of a Bay on the Ligurian Coast, with Mountains in the Distance 1838
D21291
Turner Bequest CCXXXII 11
Pencil on white wove paper, 98 x 157 mm
Inscribed in red ink ‘11’ top right, ascending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCXXXII 11’ top right, ascending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This sketch, executed with the page turned horizontally, shows a view along the coast from a high viewpoint. A town is visible within the bay towards the centre of the composition.
Although the precise location is not known,1 the wider context of the sketchbook indicates a location somewhere on the two-hundred mile stretch of coastline between Toulon, in the south-east of France, and Genoa, the capital of the Italian region of Liguria. More specifically, taking account of the locations depicted on the neighbouring pages, the drawing probably represents a view of the Ligurian coastline, somewhere between San Remo and Savona. For an overview of Turner’s itinerary through this region, see the Introduction.
1
See Roland Courtot, ‘Carnet de voyage de Turner: 9. Notebook CCXXXII “Côte de Génès” (1838?)’, Hypotheses, 24 August 2018, accessed 24 June 2024, https://carnetswt.hypotheses.org/949.
Verso:
Blank

Nicola Moorby
October 2018

Revised by Hayley Flynn
June 2025

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘A View of a Bay on the Ligurian Coast, with Mountains in the Distance 1838’, catalogue entry, October 2018, revised by Hayley Flynn, June 2025, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, July 2026, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/a-view-of-a-bay-on-the-ligurian-coast-with-mountains-in-the-distance-r1213468, accessed 17 September 2026.