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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > First Italian Tour 1819-20 > Turin, Como, Lugarno, Maggiore ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Gardens of Isola Bella, Lake Maggiore; and Notes by Turner on Works of Art in Palazzo Borromeo 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Gardens of Isola Bella, Lake Maggiore; and Notes by Turner on Works of Art in Palazzo Borromeo’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 78 Recto:
The Gardens of Isola Bella, Lake Maggiore; and Notes by Turner on Works of Art in Palazzo Borromeo 1819
D14294
Turner Bequest CLXXIV 77
Pencil on white wove paper, 111 x 186 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil (see main text) inverted
Inscribed by John Ruskin in blue ink ‘77’ top right and ‘284’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CLXXIV 77’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The subject of this sketch is a view of the famous terraced gardens of Isola Bella, one of the Borromean islands on Lake Maggiore.1 Turner’s viewpoint is from the top of the terraced pyramid looking north-west in the direction of the Alps. Despite the rough, schematic nature of the drawing Turner has clearly delineated some of the decorative elements of the Italianate garden such as the balustrade surrounding the terrace, and the obelisks flanking a statue of Love riding a unicorn.2 Turner explored the island both from the water and on foot and made a series of sketches of the palace and its grounds. For a more detailed discussion see folio 77 verso (D14293; Turner Bequest CLXXIV 76a).
The page also contains notes by the artist which Federico Crimi has identified as pertaining to the paintings gallery within the Baroque Palazzo Borromeo on Isola Bella.3 The text, which is inverted and partially illegible, reads as follows: ‘[?Procaccini] [?agnes] 1494 [arrno Zenale | Crespi [...] Copy of the [?Mag] | Zuccarilo [?Na...] Monti [?Achilles] and Hebe’. These references respectively appear to relate to The Martyrdom of Saint Agnes by Camillo Procaccini (1555–1629), the painters Bernardo or Bernardino Zenale (c.1460–1526), Giovan Battista Crespi (1573–1632) and Francesco Zuccarelli (1702–1788), and sculptures of Achilles and Hebe by the sculptor Gaetano Matteo Monti (1776–1847).

Nicola Moorby
January 2013

1
First identified by Federico Crimi. See Crimi 2006, p.201 and Crimi 2009, p.63.
2
Crimi has stated that these elements are those which appeared in Turner’s illustration for Hakewill’s Picturesque Tour of Italy, published 1820 (see Tate T06029). However, Hakewill’s view depicts the grotto known as the Teatro Massimo on the northern side of the terraces, not the top.
3
Crimi 2009, pp.63–4.

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘The Gardens of Isola Bella, Lake Maggiore; and Notes by Turner on Works of Art in Palazzo Borromeo 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, January 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, August 2013, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-the-gardens-of-isola-bella-lake-maggiore-and-notes-by-turner-r1142815, accessed 06 May 2025.