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 Distant View of Menton and Cap Martin 1838

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Distant View of Menton and Cap Martin’ 1838
Folio 6 Verso:
Distant View of Menton and Cap Martin 1838
D21282
Turner Bequest CCXXXII 6a
Pencil on white wove paper, 98 x 157 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Geographer and Turner researcher Roland Courtot has identified this sketch, executed with the page held horizontally, as a view looking west along the Mediterranean coastline from a specific point near to the present-day French-Italian border.1 The town of Menton, situated approximately eighteen miles north-east of Nice, is visible in the centre. On the left of the composition is the distinctive profile of Cap Martin, a nearby headland, and, within the mountains in the far distance, there is a rough, outline indication of the ancient monument known as the Trophy of Augustus in La Turbie (see folios 48 recto, 51 verso and 52 recto; D21354, D21361–D21362). Also see an earlier drawing, from Turner’s 1828 tour of the region, Tate D21170 (Turner Bequest CCXXXI 19a).
At the time of Turner’s visit, this region was part of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. It marks the approximate half-way point of the journey described in this sketchbook, which begins in Toulon and ends in Genoa (for a detailed overview of Turner’s itinerary, see the Introduction).
1
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.
Technical notes:
Yellow staining in the lower half of the page is most likely the result of 1928 Tate Gallery flood (see under sketchbook introduction).

Nicola Moorby
October 2018

Revised by Hayley Flynn
June 2025

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Distant View of Menton and Cap Martin 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/distant-view-of-menton-and-cap-martin-r1213459, accessed 17 September 2026.