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

The drawing on this page, executed with the page turned horizontally, has previously been identified as a view of Genoa.1 However, according to geographer and Turner researcher Roland Courtot, the detailed topographical study represents Porto Maurizio.2

The view appears to be taken from a position in or around the town’s marina. The shoreline is clearly depicted on the right-hand side of the composition, with several boats docked in the harbour. Dominant in the centre is the neo-classical dome of the Basilica di San Maurizio, completed in the same year as Turner’s visit.3

Porto Maurizio was combined with the nearby town of Oneglia in the early twentieth century to form the new city of Imperia (see folio 16 verso; D21297). It is located on Italy’s Ligurian coastline, approximately fifty miles north-east of Nice and sixty miles south-west of Genoa, the final destination of the journey described in this sketchbook. For an overview of Turner’s itinerary through this region, see the Introduction. For further sketches of Porto Maurizio see folio 44 verso (D21347).

Verso:

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