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

This paste-down has been used for miscellaneous notes of what mostly appear to be Italian names, though the readings of them given here and thus their potential significance remain very uncertain. They were generally written with the page turned vertically. At the top left appears what may be ‘Baraggi W | Carlo M[...]I’. Several lines run down the right-hand side to the centre of the page, although it is uncertain whether the faint marks preceding them constitute letters or a small sketch, and the readings of the rest must be regarded as highly provisional:

Below this passage on the left appears ‘Cambiasi’; Luca Cambiasi, also known as Luca Cambiaso or Luca Cangiagio (1527–1585) was an Italian painter and draftsman and the leading artist in Genoa in the 16th century. His painting of The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist is in the Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh; it is possible that the slight sketch below the name here represents a Madonna and Child, drawn with the page turned in line with the sketchbook’s foliation. Alternatively, the scrawled note ‘1498 | [?Monta ...]’ aligned below the sketch may relate to it. There are some similarly obscure notes inside the front cover (D40891).

At the bottom right is what appears to be a rapid drawing of tracery, which might relate to the view inside Milan Cathedral on folio 91 verso opposite (D14488; Turner Bequest CLXXV 90a).