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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Second Italian Tour 1828-9 > Marseilles to Genoa Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Albenga from the River Centa; Two Views of the Estérel Coast, from the Sea 1828

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  • Enhanced image
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Albenga from the River Centa; Two Views of the Estérel Coast, from the Sea’ 1828
Folio 3 Verso:
Albenga from the River Centa; Two Views of the Estérel Coast, from the Sea 1828
D21138
Turner Bequest CCXXXI 3a
Pencil on white wove paper, 113 x 174 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘Reeds’ and ‘Albenga’ bottom left, ‘R[?iver]’ bottom centre, and ‘Red’ and ‘W’ within lower sketch
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
As Turner’s inscription in the bottom-left corner indicates, the subject of the topographical landscape at the bottom of the page is Albenga, a small city in the Liguria region of Italy, known as the ‘la città delle cento torri’ (city of a hundred spires).1 The artist’s viewpoint appears to be on or near the old bridge across the River Centa (present-day Ponte Rosso), looking north-west towards the city’s historic centre with its closely grouped towers, including the campanile of the cathedral of San Michele di Arcangelo, the Palazzo Vecchio and the Torre del Comune. On the left, is the shorter Romanesque corner tower of the Palazzo Peloso Cepolla, which Turner has annotated with colour notes to denote the ‘red’ brick and ‘w[hite]’ top. A similar, more detailed study of the same topography can be found on folio 53 verso (D21236).
For further sketches of Albenga, see folios 2 verso, 29 verso and 52 verso–54 recto (D21136, D21188, D21234–D21237).
Two further sketches at the top of the page appears to represent parts of the Estérel coast between Fréjus and Cannes.2 Turner sketched the coastline from a boat and these rough profile drawings include the outlines of small Mediterranean islands. The small crescent stroke towards the top left, below the jagged upper skyline, seems to be Turner’s customary indication of a waxing moon, probably in relation to the selectively shaded view of Albenga.
1
See Roland Courtot, ‘Les Carnets de William Turner: Recherches d’identification et de localisation des dessins’, unpublished research notes, Université de Provence à Aix, April 2008, p.2, as ‘Albenga’ (shared with former Tate cataloguer Nicola Moorby in email correspondence at that date).
2
Ibid.
Technical notes:
There is a thin, curved sliver missing from the top (outer) edge. It is likely part of the unfinished edge of the original sheet folded and trimmed to form the gathering; compare the slight irregularity of folio 4 (D21139–D21140).

Nicola Moorby
March 2017

Revised by Hannah Kaspar
November 2024

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Albenga from the River Centa; Two Views of the Estérel Coast, from the Sea 1828’, catalogue entry, March 2017, revised by Hannah Kaspar, November 2024, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, February 2025, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/albenga-from-the-river-centa-two-views-of-the-esterel-coast-from-the-sea-r1209816, accessed 27 October 2025.