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

Turner noted inside the front cover of this sketchbook (D41050) that he arrived in Milan at noon on a Wednesday (14 January), complaining of ‘Snow all the way’. This is one of ten works in the sketchbook depicting the city’s famous Duomo, formally known as the Basilica cattedrale metropolitana di Santa Maria Nascente. See under folio 10 verso (D21683) for further commentary and a list of relevant views from this sketchbook and Turner’s earlier visit to Milan of 1819.

Together with folios 62 recto and verso (D21763–D21764), this is one of three interior views of the Duomo, roughly outlined and shaded with characteristic economy. Turner was apparently standing in the nave, his viewpoint encompassing the choir to the left and a side aisle to the right, with three columns in the foreground.